Springsteen Hits the Road for Obama

October 13, 2012, 9:53 am

By HELENE COOPER

3:40 p.m. | Updated SOS to BRUUUUUUUUUUCE.

Bruce Springsteen had said that he planned to stay out of the 2012 election, but these are worrying times and the race is tightening. So on Saturday, the Obama campaign announced that the Boss would be back to rally support for President Obama.

Mr. Springsteen will join former President Bill Clinton at an appearance in Parma, in the swing state of Ohio, on Thursday. In the verbiage of Obama campaign-release speak, Mr. Clinton will “lay out a clear picture of the economic choice Americans face in this election.”

And the Boss? “His appearance will help with our get-out-the vote effort in these critical swi ng states, and we are thrilled with his ongoing support,” Jim Messina, the president's campaign manager, said.

After the Parma, Ohio appearance, Mr. Springsteen, who the Obama campaign helpfully pointed out in their press release is a “supporter of President Obama and Vice President Biden,” will head to Ames, Iowa for another rally/concert for the president. Iowa is also considered a crucial state for Mr. Obama to win on Nov. 6.

Mr. Springsteen campaigned (to no avail) for Senator John Kerry during his presidential bid in 2004, and he came out again, this time to better results, for Mr. Obama in 2008. But he said after that that he would stay out of the 2012 cycle.

Few people believed him, not only because Mr. Springsteen played during the inauguration festivities in 2009 for Mr. Obama, and his presence has been felt this year at every single Obama campaign rally. The tunes of the rock hero, who cut his teeth with odes to working Americans and the pow er of redemption, are a staple on the Obama playlist, and “We Take Care of Our Own,” from the latest Springsteen album, Wrecking Ball, is the song that greets the end of every single Obama campaign rally speech.

Lately, another Springsteen song has been played at campaign rallies - Mr. Springsteen can be heard belting out “meet me in a land of hopes and dreams” while Mr. Obama works the rope line after his speeches.

Now, campaigngoers, at least in Ohio and Iowa, will be able to see him do it in person.