Actor George Clooney With Obama In Cincy? Rumors Are Flying

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Nothing is on the record or confirmed. But rumor control is buzzing wildly -- the Cincinnati area's biggest Hollywood star just might appear on stage with Barack Obama Monday in Ohio. The Obama campaign reportedly has been considering staging its Monday rally in Cincinnati at Fifth Third Arena, the home of the Bearcats basketball team on the University of Cincinnati campus. George Clooney, who grew up in the area where his father was a TV and newspaper journalist, could do the introduction. Clooney has contributed money to the Obama campaign and has described the Illinois senator as a rock star. He has not yet made a formal endorsement. Officials with the Obama camp have been trying to line up a major venue, and the arena seats about 12,500. Xavier University's Cintas Center (10,500) is not under consideration. Time Magazine helped fuel the Clooney rumors:

"He feels passionately about Barack Obama but refuses his pleas to campaign for him -- other than an introduction in late February in Cincinnati, Ohio -- because he doesn't want it to backfire into a Hollywood vs. the heartland attack."

Obama's Cincinnati rally is set for Feb. 25 -- about as late in the month as one can get. In the past, Clooney and Obama have appeared at events aimed at bringing attention to the tragedy in Darfur.

Ohio Newspaper Columnist Nick Clooney: 9/11 Was A Bad Day, But Dec. 7 Was Worse

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- On Dec. 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. There are not many Americans around today with first-hand memories of the trauma, which is being overshadowed by 9/11's horror as the generations change. But Cincinnati newspaper columnist Nick Clooney (actor George Clooney's dad) contends the attack 66 years ago was far more significant because it changed the world forever. He says 9/11 "certainly changed some things, but, for the most part, life has gone on much as before in the last six years. Not so after December 7th, 1941."

Nick Clooney writes for the Cincinnati Post, an E.W. Scripps Co., publication that shuts forever at the end of this month. He muses about Pearl Harbor Day every year on the anniversary of the sneak attack. This may be last time he can remind Americans about its significance, and how nobody's life was ever the same ever again. Dec. 7 changed the whole planet. Clooney says it was clearly the culturally dominant event of the past century, an event whose impact dwarfs the tragedy in New York City.

"It was a sea change. The United States would rise to the top level of world powers in every aspect of global life. The U.S. population was united as never before or since. We saw the dawn of massive air power, the emergence of what Dwight Eisenhower would call the 'military industrial complex,' the birth of the computer, a first whiff of space travel, the jet, the cult of youth and, above all, the atomic age. All in less than four years. It would be difficult to find any similar burst of energy in history."

He also notes Japan and the U.S. both were forced to abandon delusions of superiority. The Americans learned Asians were not an inferior people; the Japanese turned away from the cult of militarism and conquest.

Cincy Star George Clooney: He's Bombing At The Box Office

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Get ready for a spate of movieola melodramas in the news and Hollywood 'zene pages about George Clooney's star beginning to dim. It has already started in Slate, the online mag, which notes that Clooney's films aren't connecting with audiences. His latest flick Michael Clayton is about corporate lawyering and unsavory ethics. It was praised by critics but had a relatively weak $10 million opening last weekend.

Clooney likes to make films about issues that turn on questions of social responsibility. He grew up in the Cincinnati-area where his dad, Nick, was a broadcaster, deejay and local TV news anchorman. Nick now writes a column for the Cincinnati Post. Slate's Hollywoodland correspondent Kim Masters writes today that there are several theories about George Clooney's failure to sell tickets:

"Clooney is very popular in Hollywood, but he cannot be counted on to open a movie. It's happened for Ocean's 11-12-13, but when you're in a movie with Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, you don't get bragging rights. There was The Perfect Storm, but that kind of co-starred the wave."

Master's quotes unnamed Hollywood insiders identified only as a top producer and a former studio chief saying that Clooney just doesn't have the star power to put fannies in the seats.

"Who can be counted on to open a move these days? Maybe Will Smith. Maybe Adam Sandler in a comedy . . . The days are gone when you could book Julia Roberts into Dying Young -- 'a movie that nobody wants to see' -- and watch the audience line up. So, if you can't count on selling the star, he says, you better sell an idea. That didn't happen with Michael Clayton."

George Clooney On Obama: I'd Love For Him To Be President

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- George Clooney, the movie star, clearly admires Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. Over the weekend at the Venice Film Festival in Italy, Clooney described the Democratic presidential contender as a mega-watt personality who would be awesome in the White House.

"You've been in a room once in a while with a rock star. He walks into the world, and he takes your breath away. I'd love him to be president, quite honestly."

Clooney, who grew up in the Cincinnati area where his father works as a TV and print journalist, has donated to the Obama campaign. And the Obama camp has wasted no time flashing the move star's words of praise to the political world.

Hot Off The Press: Will George Clooney Own Post-Scripps Cincinnati Post?

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- People with stars in their eyes, Hollywood star George Clooney to be exact, are openly yearning he'll swoop into his hometown like an ER doc and staunch the bleeding at Ohio's last afternoon metropolitan daily newspaper, The Cincinnati Post. The rumor gained currency this week when the city's alt/weekly City Beat said it had heard Clooney might be angling for The Post in order to make his journalist father, Nick, the publisher.

City Beat called it "most intriguing" and unconfirmed and let it go in two sentences, but that was enough to start a quiet buzz.

George Clooney is progressive, loaded and has been around journalism all his life. His father was a TV anchorman and now writes a column for The Post, which is near the expiration of a 30-year joint operating agreement with The Cincinnati Enquirer, a morning daily that is the combo's economically stronger partner. The Enquirer leans Republican; the Post Democratic. Concern about its possible demise as an alternative voice is fueling some of the rumors/hopes that George Clooney is on stage left waiting to open his wallet. Nick's column regularly scores the GOP, specifically the Bush Administration, although he's not a firebrand. Nick dropped the column a few years back to run as a Democrat for a congressional seat in Northern Kentucky. He lost and rejoined the green eyeshade crowd.

George, of course, has this well-known thing about quality journalism. He had writer's credits on Good Night & Luck, picked up an Oscar for his on-screen portrayal of Edward R. Murrow' producer, and took j-school classes in college. On the Newshour a few year ago, he talked about growing up in the newsroom at Channel 12, WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, where his dad was becoming an on-air anchor desk legend. Another thing going for the rumor -- Hollywood mogul David Geffen wants to buy a big newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, which is supposed to signal that the rich and famous still see some value in the sheets that roll off America's printing presses.

So, can the Post be saved? I think George could do it.

If I was writing a memo, I'd say convert it to a tab to make it thicker and give it a sense of heft. Get Nick's column across the bottom of the front page, or tease it and promote the hell out of it. Load the inside with strong voices and opinions that say something, not mumble and mutter, hem and haw. And pick the progressive side to clearly distinguish The Post from the Enquirer.

Force the paper to develop a sense of place, and also some pizazz. Use pictures well, especially on the front page like a true tab. Pictures galore.

Scrap the hackneyed, standardized journalism and grab some new news. Check out the blogs every day and see what's bubbling -- they are often way ahead. Why not try out 'sphere stories like Ann Coulter and the Faggot incident? People would read for sure. Or Gore's big electric bill. Is that common in Ohio? What's the Duke Energy average? Or Mike Huckabee saying he's got a concealed carry permit -- a story about the pistol-packin' GOP presidential candidate would be a great read and headline.

And switch it to a morning newspaper with a strong Internet presence, so strong it reaches way beyond Cincinnati.

Would it work? Obviously the tired formulas newspapers are using today aren't.

Actor George Clooney's Dad: Applauds Edwards, Rips HIllary

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- There is no discord in the celebrated and celebrity Clooney family. But father, Nick, and son, George, seem to have diverged a bit on the subject of which Democrat they hope will capture the Democratic presidential nomination. George is in Hollywood saying kind words about Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and has reportedly sent campaign funds his way. Back home in the Cincinnati area, Nick said Hillary Clinton reminded him of George Bush and praised John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator. "Bravo, Sen. Edwards," he cheered.

Nick dumped on Sen. Hillary Clinton, and compared her to the sitting president because she won't admit making a mistake when she voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq. "What this may show is a disturbing similarity to President Bush on the major issue of the day. Senator Clinton is inexplicably as stubborn as he is. She would have been well-advised early on to issue a simple statement along the lines of: 'I voted to give the president a free hand to send our troops to war. I was wrong. I learned a hard lesson from my mistake.' Now it may be too late."

Strong stuff thrown at Hillary from the ranking member of the politically active Clooney clan.

Nick has been a TV news anchorman in Ohio, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City over the years and ran unsuccessfully for a Kentucky seat in Congress. His late sister, Rosemary Clooney, was a singing icon and Hollywood figure of note. Nick is an unabashed Democrat and said Edwards has been talking about important subjects while campaigning, as opposed to Sen. Hillary Clinton and Obama, who have been squabbling a bit.

"Seldom is anything of substance brought up on the campaign trail. An exception is the national health care plan of former Sen. John Edwards. He takes the reader step-by-step, explaining where the choke points are in our current system and how to circumvent them. There are some elements here of plans proposed in Massachusetts and California, but it goes beyond them. This plan was prepared by realists, not idealists, and has a chance to be successful," Nick wrote in this week's column, which appears in the Cincinnati Post, an afternoon daily that may cease publication later this year.

"Major stumbling block? Our tangle of mismatched and overlapping insurance providers and their bloated bureaucracies. But this plan deserves a chance and, for once, the climate may be in its favor. Bravo, Sen. Edwards."

Obama's Army Of Celebs: Are The Stars Really Aligned?

CINCINNATI (TDD) -- The draft Obama movement has a cute gimmick up on its Web site -- a list of stars and tycoons and celebrities who are "honorary members" of the drive to get the Illinois Democrat into the '08 presidential race. The kind words by folks like George Clooney and billionaire Warren Buffet aren't official endorsements, but they read like high praise.

Here's Buffet, the sage of Omaha, who is America's second richest man and is giving his wealth away: "I've got a conviction about him that I don't get very often. He has as much potential as anyone I've seen to have an important impact over his lifetime on the course America takes. If he can do an ounce better with me, fine."

And Clooney, whose dad, Nick, is a columnist at the Cincinnati Post: "He possesses the one quality that you cannot teach and you can't learn . . .He is a leader, He walks into a room and you want to follow him somewhere."

And the Biggest O of All, Oprah: "I think his sense of hope and optimism for this country and what is possible for the United States is the kind of think I would like to get behind."

Read all the "endorsements" that DraftObama.org has found. On Feb. 10, when the senator speaks in Springfield, we'll find out if he's running.

Newspaper Web Sites: George Clooney Is 'looney'

ClEVELAND (TDB) -- For some strange reason, many U.S. newspaper online search engines have an odd, almost cranky habit. Type in the name of movie star George Clooney and this message comes back:

"Did you mean George looney?"

It happens in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Louisville, the biggest city in the state where his parents live in a small town on the Ohio River. Nick Clooney, a newspaper columnist, former TV anchor and one-time Democratic congressional candidate in Northern Kentucky, is a victim of the same digital gremlin. He pops up as "Nick looney."

See what happens on Cleveland.com, the Web home of The Plain Dealer, when you click on George Clooney.

And watch what happens on Cincinnati.com, the home of the Cincinnati Enquirer, when you ask for George Clooney.

Try the Louisville Courier Journal for George Clooney.

It happens at a lot of newspaper sites, But not all. At the Miami Herald you can click George Clooney and nothing "looney" materializes. Nor does it happen at the Chicago Tribune.

George Clooney is a Hollywood celebrity of the first order, and the Los Angeles Times doesn't give him the looney treatment. George and his dad are campaigning against the genocide in Darfur and have a TV special due out Monday, as some of the newspaper Web sites mention. There is nothing looney about the Clooney family's efforts to ease suffering and stir action against the slaughter in Africa.