Springsteen, however, did not get involved in partisan politics until 2004 when he endorsed John Kerry.  That was the first presidential candidate he ever supported publicly.

As an ardent Springsteen fan, too, I have to say his voice is a welcome addition to progressive Democratic politics.

Half of his current album Magic is about this war and the damage its done to this country, and especially those that will never return from the war.

The most relevant song, Long Walk Home, is an allegory to what we've lost as a nation over the past 8 years.

I'm going down to C'ville to see him again in two weeks (two weeks from tonight, actually!). Can't wait.

In the squares of the city, in the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.

As I went walking, I saw a sign there
And on that sign it said "Private Property"
But on the other side it didn't say nothin'
That side was made for you and me!

In fact, ironically enough, on his live album when Springsteen sings a beautiful arrangement of this song, he cites the fact that it was written as a protest song (specifically in response to Irving Berlin's G-d Bless America, a song I singularly do not like), and then turns it into a patriotic song by leaving out the key verses.

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
'Til you spend half your life just covering up

[...]

I got in a little hometown jam
And so they put a rifle in my hands
Sent me off to Vietnam
To go and kill the yellow man

[...]

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
I go down to see the V.A. man
He said "Son don't you understand"

Bruce Springsteen is a working class hero for damn good reason.  The fact that he's endorsed Barack Obama is VERY telling.

If any celebrity endorsement packs a punch, I wonder if this one might...

"The Boss" spoke to an entire generation of us who grew up in rust-belt towns...  he may have am impact in Pennsylvania.  It could be interesting.

Nearly a month ago I predicted a Clinton marginal win in PA by ~6% of the popular vote...  before the Springsteen endorsement I saw nothing to change this early guess.  Now?  Perhaps Obama will get within 5% or even 4%?

The other states (that still have primaries) the boss has an impact are Indiana and West Virginia.

(Magic is an excellent album, by the way).

Sen. Obama has captured much of the nation's imagination for a reason. He offers real change, a vision of an America that can move past not only racial tensions but also the political partisanship that has so bedeviled it.

To be sure, Sen. Clinton carries the aspirations of women in particular, but even in this she is something of a throwback, a woman whose identity and public position are indelibly linked to her husband, her own considerable talents notwithstanding. It does not help that the Clinton brand is seen by many in the country as suspect and shifty, bearing the grimy stamp of political calculation counting as much as principle.

Pennsylvania -- this encrusted, change-averse commonwealth where a state liquor monopoly holds on against all reason and where municipal fiefdoms shrink from sensible consolidation -- needs to take a strong look at the new face and the new hope in this race. Because political business-as-usual is more likely to bring the usual disappointment for the Democrats this fall, the Post-Gazette endorses the nomination of Barack Obama, who has brought an excitement and an electricity to American politics not seen since the days of John F. Kennedy.

Now main streets whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there aint nobody wants to come down here no more
Theyre closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they aint coming back to
Your hometown, your hometown, your hometown, your hometown

I had a job, I had a girl
I had something going mister in this world
I got laid off down at the lumber yard
Our love went bad, times got hard
Now I work down at the carwash
Where all it ever does is rain
Don't you feel like you're a rider on a downbound train

Might this make someone a little "bitter?"

Well my daddy come on the 0hio works
When he come home from world war two
Now the yards just scrap and rubble
He said, "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do"
These mills they built the tanks and bombs
That won this country's wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for

Well I got a job and tried to put my money away
But I got debts that no honest man can pay

[...]

Now I been lookin' for a job but it's hard to find
Down here it's just winners and losers and don't get caught on the wrong side of that line
Well I'm tired of comin' out on the losin' end
So honey last night I met this guy and I'm gonna do a little favor for him

For the third week in a row Public Policy Polling's survey of likely voters in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary shows a statistical tie between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Obama has 45% to Clinton's 42% in this week's survey. Clinton led 46-43 a week ago and Obama was up 45-43 two weeks ago.

Obama's increase in support since last week comes from small gains across the board. He's cut Clinton's margin with white voters, expanded his advantage with black voters, reduced Clinton's lead with women, and increased his percentage of the male vote.

"PPP has been in the field now in both Pennsylvania and North Carolina since Obama's 'bitter' remarks and has seen no ill effects for Barack Obama," said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. "It doesn't appear the Clinton campaign has been able to gain any momentum with this issue."

We don't need a republican opponent, cause we have Hillary.  I think the primary voters are smart enough to figure that out.

http://www.latimes.com/news/po...

And how about some People Power, Springsteen style:

During the past week, Sen. Hillary Clinton has presented herself as a working class populist, the politician in touch with small town sentiments, compared to the elitism of her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama.

But a telling anecdote from her husband's administration shows Hillary Clinton's attitudes about the "lunch-bucket Democrats" are not exactly pristine.

In January 1995, as the Clintons were licking their wounds from the 1994 congressional elections, a debate emerged at a retreat at Camp David. Should the administration make overtures to working class white southerners who had all but forsaken the Democratic Party? The then-first lady took a less than inclusive approach.

"Screw 'em," she told her husband. "You don't owe them a thing, Bill. They're doing nothing for you; you don't have to do anything for them."