The rebourne identity

While his Republican rivals were battering each other in Iowa last week, President Barack Obama quietly headed off to New York for one of the more pleasant chores of his re-election campaign.

He schmoozed with a bunch of celebrities, who were only too happy to write him some large cheques for the privilege.

Obama's arrival at the Greenwich Village home of Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul, not only earned the Democratic party a small fortune from the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Anna Wintour and Alicia Keys, who each coughed up $35,000 (Dh128,518)a ticket; it also highlighted what is rapidly becoming a vintage year not just for politicians with stars in their eyes, but for stars with politics in mind.

It was not just the startling news that Michael Moore, the left-wing documentary filmmaker, is urging Matt Damon, star of the Jason Bourne trilogy, to run for president; New Yorkers also discovered last week that the forthcoming race to succeed their mayor, Michael Bloomberg, may pit Alec Baldwin, star of the 30 Rock television comedy series, against Kelsey Grammer, best known for playing Frasier.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's departure from the California governor's mansion seems to have created a vacancy for the title of Hollywood's most successful politician.

Popularity wins

Ever since Ronald Reagan confounded a generation of sneering Democrats and turned a modest B-film career into a springboard for political greatness, America has had a soft spot for celebrities with attitude. "The Republicans have certainly shown the way," noted Moore. "When you run someone who is popular, you win."

In recent years, George Clooney has always ranked high on the wish-list of star-struck Democrats, but though he remains one of Hollywood's most active liberals, he has ruled himself out as anything but a celluloid candidate — on the grounds that his past may be a touch too colourful to stand up to modern media scrutiny.

Clooney's friend Brad Pitt has been widely praised for his charitable work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, but asked recently if he was interested in a political career, Pitt joked: "I'm running on the gay marriage, no religion, legalisation and taxation of marijuana platform. I don't have a chance."

With ageing activists such as Warren Beatty on the left and Clint Eastwood on the right now largely absent from the political landscape, the door appears open for a new injection of Hollywood glamour in both mainstream parties. Damon, 40, has emerged as an increasingly outspoken liberal who has condemned Obama's education policies and called for higher taxes on the wealthy, including himself.

"It's criminal that so little is asked of people who are getting so much," Damon said recently. "I don't mind paying more."

Uneasy questions

Baldwin, 53, has long been interested in party politics, but his chances of active involvement appeared to take a hit when he became involved in a brutal divorce in 2002 from his former wife, the actress Kim Basinger.

He was widely vilified after Basinger leaked a taped telephone conversation in which he called his then 11-year-old daughter, Ireland, a "pig".

Yet he has since put the scandal behind him and has won several awards for his work as an interfering television network executive on 30 Rock. Last week he told The New York Times that he was still keen to enter politics, but wanted to pick the right moment.

"I am someone who is fully prepared for the fact that I could go into this... and completely have my a** kicked," he added.

Grammer, who is one of Hollywood's few Republicans, is also eyeing Bloomberg's office, and like Baldwin, would have to overcome questions about a messy divorce.

He has also expressed interest in a US Senate seat in California, but may have to explain to more conservative Republicans why he played a gay man on Broadway — he starred last year in a revival of La Cage aux Folles.