Count Marc Anthony among President Obama’s growing army of celebrity campaigners leveraging their star power to lure voters to the polls this November.
The actor and chart-topping salsa singer will perform in a fund-raising concert in Miami Beach on June 26 and has released a video targeting Latino voters on Obama’s campaign site.
The president will join Anthony for a reception that evening, to be held at the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater.
Tickets for the event run from $100 for mezzanine-level seats to $5,000, which offers high-rolling Obama boosters “Co-Host” status and includes “Photo Reception, VIP Seating and meet & greet with Marc Anthony,” according to a promotional page for the concert.
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To further entice his politically savvy fans, Anthony announced a contest in conjunction with the performance, granting backstage access “to meet Marc” (no mention of meeting POTUS) at the private concert.
Enlisting Anthony as a celebrity ambassador is an auspicious move on Obama’s part, as the president and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, jostle to win over a crucial demographic this election season: Latino voters. Choosing a Miami venue was no mistake either, as Florida, where Obama clinched a key victory in 2008, is home to a large Latino population whose voting goals may have been impacted by economic and sociopolitical factors since he took office – and could still be swayed.
Anthony, born Marco Antonio Muñiz to Puerto Rican parents in New York, opens his promo video by acknowledging Latinos’ power at the polls. “Latinos are a force that can and will help decide this election,” he says.
Citing “jobs, the economy, education, immigration” as important issues to Latino voters, Anthony assures his audience that “President Obama is on our side on all of them. We just need to make sure he has four more years to make more progress.”
The full clip of Anthony’s pitch follows below.