When Arnold Schwarzenegger materialised with George W Bush in the American Midwest this weekend he joined an election battle knee-deep in Hollywood actors and rock stars working for John Kerry, writes John Harlow.

The “Learjet liberals” have been queuing up to sing and dance — and even drive — on behalf of the Democrat candidate. He has wheeled out neophytes Ben Affleck, who admitted forgetting to vote in the last election, and 19-year-old Scarlett Johansson as well as the seasoned political junkies Bruce Springsteen and Sharon Stone.

The Democrats place a ruthless premium on looks: last week the 6ft 1in heart-throb Leonardo DiCaprio addressed thousands of fellow environmentalists, while the 5ft 1in character actor Danny DeVito drove a voter registration minivan around Florida.

Springsteen, still raw that Republicans once hijacked his Born in the USA as a party anthem, has organised 37 anti-Bush concerts, telling audiences: “I hear all this so-called confusion about swing voters. What are you waiting for? I say this: you mislead the nation, you lose your job. It ain’t rocket science.”

By contrast, the president has had trouble finding top-drawer stars willing to step up during these last frenetic days. Republican actors who play tough on the silver screen, including Alec Baldwin and Bruce Willis, have found themselves busy elsewhere.

This has left the Bush message to be promoted by the once-shocking Alice Cooper, the once-dazzling Bo Derek and the rich but geeky Bill Gates.

Bush’s biggest musical supporter, the “proudly redneck” cowboy singer Toby Keith, has been in Afghanistan performing his top 20 anthem Courtesy of the Red White and Blue, which includes the memorable lyric: “You’ll be sorry that you messed with the US of A, ‘cause we’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way.”

Even Schwarzenegger has avoided the campaign’s day-to-day mudslinging, aware it will shatter his image as a man above petty politics.

Republicans remain undaunted: they say they have deliberately concentrated on more down-to-earth celebrities, such as racing drivers and football players. One campaign manager said: “Autograph-hunters don’t necessarily vote. And why should anyone with a brain of their own listen to Ben Affleck on politics? People don’t like being lectured at by arrogant wealthy outsiders claiming they understand the common man. Actors and rock stars are nice to listen to and look at, but when they have gone to bed the real issues still have to be decided by the grown-ups.”

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