John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president, published a list of about 200 entrepreneurs supporting his run for the White House, in an effort to reassure voters of his moderate credentials.
The list, not unexpectedly, included endorsements from players in the entertainment and fashion industries. Among the signatories were Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein; former Hollywood mogul Barry Diller; the chairperson of Warner Music, Edgar Bronfman Jnr; Dreamworks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg; Peter Chernin, the chief operating officer of News Corporation; and Jann Wenner, chairperson of Rolling Stone magazine’s publisher, Wenner Media.
Designers on the list included Donna Karan, Vera Wang and Diane von Furstenberg.
But there was backing from other industries. Kerry has public support from Robert Fisher, chairperson of The Gap; August Busch, president of Budweiser’s brewer, Anheuser-Busch; Jim Clark, the founder of Netscape; and Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google. He also lists a handful of senior Wall Street figures.
Kerry released the list on the campaign trail in Iowa, a key swing state in the midwest where he is currently neck and neck with President George W Bush in the polls.
Bill Clinton employed a similar tactic in his successful run for the White House in 1992. Publication of the list hints at the erosion of a traditional Republican Party base.
Kerry has already enlisted the respected investor Warren Buffett and Apple founder Steve Jobs to his team. But the Republicans have deeper support among the business community and Bush has raised more than Kerry from corporate donors.
Owsley Brown II, chairperson of Brown-Forman, the maker of Jack Daniel’s, is a former Bush supporter now backing Kerry. He told the Wall Street Journal: ”It’s not something someone does lightly and certainly not for someone like me, a registered Republican all my life. But it seems pretty clear that our choice last time has not been such a good one for the United States.”
Former Chrysler chief, Lee Iacocca, campaigned for Bush in 2000 but has switched to Kerry.
He said Bush was taking the US ”in the wrong direction”.
The list appeared to be aimed at calming the nerves of some voters concerned that some of Kerry’s campaign promises might herald a hostile environment for corporate America.
He has promised tax breaks for companies that employ workers in the US to discourage outsourcing and to close tax loopholes for companies registering overseas.
He has also promised to end the special interests that have infiltrated Washington, especially the influence of the oil and gas industries in shaping government energy policy.
Kerry has also said he would roll back some of the tax breaks for the rich, awarded by Bush.
Releasing the list, Kerry said: ”George Bush has been bad for American business. His irresponsible mismanagement of the economy has led to record deficits, job loss and decreased confidence in the economy.”
The music industry is also backing Kerry. More than 20 acts, including Bruce Springsteen, REM, Pearl Jam and the Dixie Chicks, are to perform at fundraising concerts in an effort to unseat Bush. Nine concerts are planned, all in swing states.
”We’re trying to put forward a group of progressive ideals and change the administration in the White House,” Springsteen told Associated Press. ”That’s the success of failure, very clear-cut and very simple”.
Wall Street chiefs backing Kerry include Robert Hormats, the vice-chairperson of Goldman Sachs; Thomas Lee, who runs the venture capital firm Thomas Lee Company; Arthur Levitt, the former chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the investment banker Bruce Wasserstein. — Â