Music stars rally here for Obama

NEEDING A HUGE voter turnout in Philadelphia to ensure that he gets Pennsylvania's electoral votes - a giant step toward the White House - Barack Obama went to his bench last night and tapped into the Phillies Phever that has been sweeping the city.

Jimmy Rollins, the National League MVP in 2007, who led the Phils into baseball's promised land in 2008, lent his priceless local star power to a late-night Obama rally in South Philly where vice-presidential hopeful Joe Biden was the official headliner.

Biden was way behind schedule and didn't take the stage until 11:07 p.m., emerging behind his wife, Jill, who was wearing a Phillies' jacket and waving a rally towel.

"I know it's late; I really appreciate it," the Delaware senator said. "I believe we're on the cusp of new American leadership . . . . Pennsylvania is going to decide who is the next president of the United States."

Biden also said the Republican Party has called Obama every name in the book, "but they're going to have to call him something else - the 44th president of the United States."

It was the nightcap of a star-studded day for the Obama campaign, seeking to juice Philly turnout and surpass the record 415,000-vote margin that John Kerry received from city voters in 2004. An event earlier yesterday in North Philadelphia drew hip-hop megastars Jay-Z, Sean "Diddy" Combs and Mary J. Blige.

The two men of the hour - Democrat Obama and his GOP rival, John McCain - were not in the area last night during their mad dash to the finish line of the longest, the most expensive and one of the most historic presidential races in U.S. history.

The 72-year-old McCain bounded across seven key states, most of them "red" states that were carried by President Bush in 2004.

But Pennsylvania - the Democratic-leaning "blue" state where McCain has pinned his hopes of an upset - was the exception.

"America faces a big choice, and there's just one day left," McCain told a rally in Moon Township, outside of Pittsburgh.

"The pundits have written us off just like they've done four or five times in this past. And my opponent is measuring the drapes in the White House. You know, they may not know it, but the Mac is back."

Obama, meanwhile, spent the early part of the day campaigning in Florida, the state where Bush eked out a victory in 2000.

"Florida, don't believe for a second this election's over," Obama told a rally in Jacksonville. "We're going to have to work like our futures depend on it for the next 24 hours - because it does."

In Philadelphia, it was surrogates who did the heavy lifting for Obama. Roughly 4,500 people jammed Broad Street between Dauphin and Susquehanna Avenue yesterday morning - outside the shuttered Uptown Theater, which once hosted R&B greats like Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding - for the rally featuring Blige, Combs and Jay-Z.

The musicians implored their fans to get out to their polling places to vote and urged them to remain until they had pulled the lever, regardless of long lines or voter intimidation.

"Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run. Obama's running so we can all fly," said Jay-Z, a rapper and multimillionaire entrepreneur whose real name is Shawn Carter.

Doors opened at 10:30 a.m., but the stars didn't take the stage until about 1 p.m. As they waited, the crowd danced to Michael Jackson, Boyz II Men and Bill Withers.

They roared in delight when DJ Brendan Bring'um yelled at the crowd: "You ready for Barack Obama to be the mother- - - - - - - president?"

After waiting more than two hours for the stars, the crowd didn't want any warm-up acts. So when Mayor Nutter took the stage to introduce the celebs, the crowd gave him a true Philly welcome - they booed. But Nutter took it in stride, encouraging people to vote. "In less than 24 hours we have an opportunity to make history," he said.

Blige, Combs and Jay-Z each spoke, all with the same message. They stressed that all registered voters have the right to vote and must exercise it. Combs, who has gone by the stage names "Puff Daddy" and "P Diddy," wore a T-shirt emblazoned with "Vote or Die," the slogan from his 2004 voter-registration campaign.

"You know that this is a swing state right here," he said. "This is going to be the state that decides the election."

Jubilant Obama supporters said they left the event energized for Election Day. Joreen Parker, 35, of North Philadelphia, danced in the street after the rally.

"I'm excited. I never, ever voted in my whole life," she said. "I got a new voter's-registration card. I'm going to be there at 6 o'clock [in the morning]." *

Staff writer Will Bunch and the Associated Press contributed to this report.