Bruce Springsteen Ready To Rock for Obama Campaign

With just barely three weeks left until the Nov. 6 election in a rapidly tightening presidential race, President Barack Obama is getting a little help from the man known to many simply as "The Boss."

Rock legend Bruce Springsteen will be hitting the campaign trail alongside former President Bill Clinton at a rally in Parma, Ohio this Thursday, reported Rolling Stone magazine. Later that day, Springsteen is scheduled to appear at another event in Ames, Iowa.

Ohio and Iowa are two of the critical states up for grabs in the election.

"Bruce Springsteen's values echo what the President and Vice President stand for: hard work, fairness, integrity," said Jim Messina, Obama for America's campaign manager, in a statement to Rolling Stone. "His appearances will help with our get out the vote effort in these critical swing states and we are thrilled with his ongoing support."

The planned visits are a dramatic change from when Springsteen-a known Democratic supporter-told magazine The New Yorker in July that he was going to sit out this election.

"I did it twice because things were so dire," he told the magazine in July. "It seemed like if I was ever going to spend whatever small political capital I had, that was the moment to do so. But that capital diminishes the more often you do it. While I'm not saying never, and I still like to support the President, you know, it's something I didn't do for a long time, and I don't have plans to be out there every time."

This isn't Springsteen's first foray into the political stumping grounds. In 2004, he campaigned actively for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry alongside several other major rock stars in a series of shows called "Vote for Change." And in 2008, he starred alongside Long Island music legend Billy Joel during a New York fundraising concert for Obama in the final weeks leading up to the election.

Other acts supporting the Obama campaign include Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, and Earth Wind & Fire, all of whom were part of a rally concert held Oct. 7 in Los Angeles.

For Republican candidate Mitt Romney, ex-Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway and Oscar winner Clint Eastwood, who spoke at the Republican National Convention headline the celebrities supporting the Romney campaign, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.