Barack calls the boss for campaign help
Bruce Springsteen will be back campaigning for President Barack Obama.
The musician will join former President Bill Clinton at a Thursday rally in Parma, Ohio, two days after the second presidential debate. Obama will not attend the rally.
Springsteen also will appear at a campaign event Thursday in Ames, Iowa.
Springsteen campaigned for Obama in 2008, but these will be his first political appearances of the 2012 cycle. Clinton is a prominent campaigner for Obama.
Clinton and Springsteen’s joint appearance in Ohio underscores the importance of the key swing state. Polls show Obama with a slight lead there over Mitt Romney, but the Republican presidential candidate is spending an increasing amount of time and resources in the state ahead of Election Day.
Supersonic skydive ‘a go’ today
The weekend weather in New Mexico appears to be cooperating this time for a daredevil trying to become the first skydiver to break the sound barrier.
Meteorologist Don Day said the weather forecast remained favorable for former Austrian paratrooper Felix Baumgartner’s jump, scheduled for early Sunday near Roswell, N.M.
Baumgartner will be prepared at sunrise to launch his 30 million cubic foot helium balloon to hoist a 3,000-pound capsule that will carry the jumper 23 miles up in the sky. The jump has already been canceled twice due to high winds, once damaging the balloon and forcing use of a backup for Sunday’s planned launch.
Baumgartner will try to break a 1960 high-altitude parachuting record. He will also test a pressurized suit that is designed for stratospheric jumps.
He called Tuesday’s postponement nerve-wracking but said Sunday’s date is one already steeped in aviation history. On October 14, 1947, in an experimental rocket plane, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time over Edwards Air Force Base in California.
“I want to break the speed of sound, no matter what it takes,” he said in a statement. “As long as we have a spare balloon and more launch days, I’m good.”
The birthday bunch
Actor Roger Moore is 85. Country singer Melba Montgomery is 74. Singer Cliff Richard is 72. Singer Justin Hayward (The Moody Blues) is 66. Actor Harry Anderson is 60. Actor Greg Evigan is 59. Singer Thomas Dolby is 54. Actress Lori Petty is 49. Actor Steve Coogan is 47. Singer Karyn White is 47. Actor Jon Seda is 42. Country bassist Doug Virden (Sons of the Desert) is 42. Country singer Natalie Maines (The Dixie Chicks) is 38. Singer Shaznay Lewis (All Saints) is 37. Singer Usher is 34. Comedian Jay Pharoah (“Saturday Night Live”) is 25.