September 5th, 2008

If Denver was full of stars last week, it was pretty dark this week in St. Paul.

Celebrities from Scarlett Johansson to Charlize Theron to Ben Affleck rallied for Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, but the stars were dimmer and fewer at the Republican National Convention.

Perhaps the hurricane and the subsequent scaled-back first day of the convention detracted celebs. Or maybe it’s because Hollywood’s notorious liberal stance kept them far away from St. Paul.

Nevertheless, Minnesota did have some star wattage.

Jon Voight, Rosario Dawson, Robert Downey Jr., Stephen Baldwin, Kelsey Grammar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Law & Order’s Fred Thompson, The Sopranos’ Joe Pantoliano and Ben Stein (Ferris Bueller’s teacher who droned “Bueller, Bueller…”) attended. While he did not attend, Robert Duvall narrated one of the convention’s short documentaries.

Singers also joined the crowds. John Rich, Trace Adkins, Pat Boone, Five for Fighting’s John Ondrasik, Aimee Allen, Sara Evans and Gretchen Wilson lent their support.

While Obama won the contest in drawing out the biggest and most popular stars, McCain won the ratings from everyday people sitting at home. According to E! Online, nearly 39 million people watched McCain’s speech beating out Obama’s 38.4 million.