John McCain today held a rally at Central High School in Phoenix, Arizona, with reggaeton star Daddy Yankee.
The Puerto Rican rapper, real name Ramon Ayala, thanked McCain and said he was happy to be there. It's unclear to me yet if he performed, but the CNN feed from the event showed several girls on the stage swooning over him.
The LA Times reported earlier this month that Ayala and the 71-year old Republican, an avowed Abba fan, met in private. McCain spokeswoman Hessy Fernandez, who handles Latino and immigration issues for the campaign, said of the meeting:
It goes to show that John McCain is someone who can appeal to anybody.
I'll admit I'm baffled on the politics of this one, other than that it's an obvious use of a pop cultural figure to appeal to young voters and Latinos. Expect no more astute analysis from me.
