Trailhead

John Edwards Milks Kevin Bacon Connections

Joining Edwards’ Iowa campaign next weekend will be Kevin Bacon, possibly the best-connected actor on the planet.

Edwards is calling its organizing drive ” Six Degrees of John Edwards .” The deal: Any volunteer who performs six hours of work for the campaign, brings six signed supporter cards to an event, brings six undecided caucus-goers to an event, writes six letters to an editor, or tells six friends about Edwards and his policy book gets a voucher for free Kevin Bacon memorabilia.

But an analysis conducted using the University of Virginia’s ” Oracle of Bacon ” has found that Bacon may also be connected with rival campaigns. The endorsement comes on the heels of Barack Obama’s much-publicized tour with Oprah Winfrey, who was in Native Son (1986) with Matt Dillon, who was in Loverboy (2005) with Kevin Bacon.

Also unreported are Bacon’s connections to prominent Republican candidates, including fellow actor Fred Thompson, who had an uncredited role in White Sands (1992) as an arms dealer alongside John Lafayette, who was also in Loverboy with Bacon. Bacon’s GOP connections don’t end there. Robert Duvall, who has endorsed Rudy Giuliani, starred in the 2002 film John Q with Simon Sinn, who was in Where the Truth Lies (2005) with Bacon. Even Giuliani himself is a mere two degrees from Bacon, having appeared alongside Marisa Tomei in Anger Management (2005); Tomei was also in Loverboy with Bacon.

A response from the Edwards campaign is still pending.