Published: April 20, 2008 11:22 pm         

Everybody knows his name: Ted Danson visits Terre Haute

Hollywood star tells fans Clinton is ‘authentic person’

TERRE HAUTE — Ted Danson walked into the Cucina Maria on Sunday, a place where everybody knew his name.

But the Emmy and Golden Globe winning Hollywood star made it clear while thanking the campaign workers of presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton that his commitment to

her election is more than just a

publicity draw.

“What I have to offer is our friendship and knowing her as a human being,” Danson said of Clinton, a personal friend of his wife, the former Mary Steenburgen, for 30 years, and himself for 15 years.

That, as well as a staunch belief in her plans for stimulating America’s economy by safeguarding the environment.

Danson dropped by the Cucina Maria on South Ninth Street a little after 10 a.m. as Clinton campaign workers were treated to breakfast there.

“Thanks for working hard for Hillary,” Danson said, shaking hands and having his photo taken with each of the 35 or so workers and supporters there. “And Larry Bird never gave up either,” he joked to several.

“This is the most important election in our lifetime,” he said as he answered questions from the media, noting a delicate balance on hold right now between the economy, foreign affairs and environmental issues, all of which he said are interrelated.

Danson said for years environmentalists have been pitted against industrialists, referring to the scenarios which portrayed the country as having to choose between cutting jobs to meet environmental standards, or letting industrial practices run rampant on the eco-system

“That’s a bogus argument,” Danson said, describing the “millions of jobs” that middle class skilled trades workers such as electricians could be working building solar panels, recycling facilities and other alternative energy facilities.

“We have to keep the manufacturing base here,” he said, later noting that “you can’t export recycling jobs,” and that Americans need to “start talking about the environment in terms of jobs.”

But along with environmental concerns, Danson also expressed concern for the sky-rocketing cost of higher education, stating “the loans are ridiculous” in reference to student loans.

All of which is further compounded by unfair trade agreements with countries to whom the United States is so deeply in debt that negotiations are difficult.

“It’s like Bill Clinton said,” he stated, referring to former President Clinton’s recent speech in which he described fighting off trade agreements with nations such as China while owing them trillions

of dollars.

“Everything is so complicated,” he said. “We really need a bright, bright person.”

And for a family friend of the Clintons who knows Hillary personally, he said she’s the one.

“I really like a person who can take a punch and keep getting up,” he said. “No one takes a punch like Hillary Clinton,” he said, noting she’s one of the hardest workers he’s ever met and a “chronic problem solver”

“If I tell Hillary about a problem I’m having I’d better be ready for her to fix it.”

Clinton is also an “authentic person,” he said, who talks to his children the same way she speaks to world leaders.

And with Tuesday’s primary election in Pennsylvania running tight, the opportunity for Hoosier voters to choose the Democratic party’s candidate is imminent.

“You guys here in Indiana are going to do it,” he said. “If Pennsylvania passes you the ball, then you can slam dunk it here in Indiana”

But regardless of whom one supports, Danson encourages everyone to volunteer in the process.

“Volunteers are the heart and soul of the candidates,” he said. “The eyes of the world are on Indiana.”

But for many of the campaign workers, the chance to meet the actor famous for television series Cheers and Becker, as well as the Three Men and a Baby film series, was right up there with a historic election.

“This is the swooning table,” one woman and her friends called out as Danson approached.

Terre Haute resident Donna Adams said, “I think it’s great” that Danson came for the visit.

Adams, whose daughter is a Marine, said she’s concerned about the war, and with a union electrician for a husband, the economy is a big concern.

“The economy is crucial to us,” she said, remembering Bill Clinton’s administration as being much more prosperous than the current one.

Danson cracked jokes with the workers, and when asked about a potential reunion of the “Cheers” cast, said “probably when we’re 80. When we can barely crawl into the pub, then it will be funny.”

Danson was in Hammond Saturday, where the actor who once portrayed “May Day Malone” threw out an opening pitch at a Little League game there.

“Ask who’s going to make the biggest impact on your life,” he said. “Democracy depends on you voting and participating.”

Brian Boyce can be reached at (812) 231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.