AUDUBON, Iowa - Last weekend, more than 18,000 cheering people packed an arena in Iowa's capital to hear Oprah Winfrey's soaring call to help Barack Obama capture the "fortunes of history."
A few days later, Bob Vila, the television home improvement guru, drew a dozen people to an Ace Hardware store in this farming hamlet, population 2,400.
Wedged in an aisle between a stack of drill sets and a lawn deer wrapped in Christmas lights, the man made famous by "This Old House" made an earnest pitch for Hillary Clinton. Then he walked across the street to shake hands with the barber who doubles as Audubon's mayor.
"The only other celebrity I've met is Mickey Mouse," said David Witt, the hardware store's manager. But then he shrugged.
"I don't get too worked up."
In the world of celebrity presidential endorsements, there is only one Oprah. But there is also a Bob Vila, a Kevin Bacon, and a Chuck Norris.
Candidates, including those leading in the polls, are welcoming all the help they can get this political season from stars both bright and faded.
Even Winfrey isn't enough for Obama; he also has Kal Penn, a young actor best known as Kumar from the movie, "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle."
Clinton has Barbra Streisand and Rob Reiner on her side, but her campaign also sends out press releases trumpeting endorsements from less familiar figures such as New Hampshire resident Penny Pitou, who won two Olympic silver medals for skiing - in 1960.
Aside from Winfrey, a uniquely influential figure, political analysts question whether celebrities help the candidates they endorse.
"If you are a campaign staffer in Iowa, they distract you," said Donnie Fowler, who was Al Gore's national field director in 2000.
He imagined a campaign worker saying, "I've got 1,000 calls to make today and you want me to book some diner for Tim Robbins?"
On the other hand, analysts say, the famous may help draw voters to an event out of curiosity, giving the candidate a chance to reel them in.
And they are useful just as people who can shake dozens or hundreds of extra hands.
John McCain's advisers believe that Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, who is featured in a TV ad running in New Hampshire, personifies the Arizona senator's grit and determination.
And advisers to Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, say that an offbeat ad with Chuck Norris, the B-movie action star, helped draw visitors to their website and contributed to Huckabee's rise in the polls.
"My plan to secure the border? Two words. Chuck. Norris." Huckabee intones in the spot. "Chuck Norris doesn't endorse, he tells America how it's going to be."
At the moment, John Edwards seems to be the most eager to harness all the star power he can. Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne will sing for him in New Hampshire next week after appearing for him in Iowa last month.
Actor Kevin Bacon appeared on his behalf yesterday in Iowa.
And Robbins, the Hollywood actor and liberal activist, traveled around Iowa with Edwards last week.
"I'm not Oprah!" he acknowledged cheerfully in Des Moines one night, drawing cheers. "
In a Fox News poll released Friday, New Hampshire voters were asked which celebrity endorsement would have the most influence on them.
They said Winfrey's support meant most, followed by Schilling, Norris, and Streisand, but 65 percent said none of them.
An appearance on behalf of a major presidential candidate could hardly be more modest than Vila's stop in Audubon, a town with little more than a few bars and a Dairy Queen.
It seemed that Vila's mission was to reach male voters who have been watching his home improvement shows for decades, since Clinton polls better among women.
But Vila said he was just helping out however he could.
He appeared with Clinton in New Hampshire last month when she unveiled an energy proposal, and was due to spend three days in Iowa.
The campaign called the hardware store only the day before Vila's visit, and a local Clinton supporter, a 78-year-old man in the construction business, phoned around to invite some friends and neighbors.
When Vila showed up in a quilted jacket, wool sweater, and khakis, he made small talk for a few minutes, mentioned that Ace Hardware would soon be carrying his line of tools, and offered a low-key pitch for Clinton for about 10 minutes.
Vila took questions for another half hour or so, gamely trying to answer queries about education and immigration that he acknowledged he knew little about.
When a high school shop teacher expressed concern about gun control, Vila explained that he had inherited guns from his father and father-in-law.
He was briefly flummoxed when a local reporter asked, "When it comes to remodeling the White House, do you keep around the old model?"
Vila eventually figured out that the man meant to question whether Bill Clinton should have a role in his wife's administration if she makes it to the White House.
"Boy do I think it's high time that we have a lady president," Vila responded.
"If we're going to have a first gentleman, he would be a great one to have."
Then, two young women working for the campaign corralled everyone for a group photo.
The Iowans clearly enjoyed Vila's visit. But it wasn't clear that he won any new converts. Many of them were committed to Clinton already.
The shop teacher, Jerry Roy, said he came because Vila is famous and because "he's a tool guy."
Roy is not a Bill Clinton fan, but said he regrets voting for President Bush and is open to the idea of voting for Hillary Clinton.
Next November, that is, if she becomes her party's nominee.
"I have never been to an Iowa caucus," he said, "and I don't plan on going."
Sasha Issenberg, Michael Kranish, and Susan Milligan of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Marcella Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@ globe.com.
