If anything, the 2008 presidential elections are turning out to be the Battle of the Rock Stars.

Screw issues. This extended campaign season (already in full swing) is about personality, charisma and raw animal attraction. For the rock star candidates, the crowds are big, the adulation real.

Two of the biggest rock stars are already stirring the pot locally; Rudy Giuliani drew 500 at a St. Petersburg appearance last week, and Barack Obama is set for his first tour stop here with a $25-a-head fundraiser expected to draw hundreds to the Cuban Club in Ybor City on Sunday, April 15. Obama's public event follows a private, higher-end fundraiser being spearheaded by folks such as Frank Sanchez, Elaine, Yolie Capin, Vivian Warren and Hinks Shimberg and Norma Gene Lykes, the party's host.

What's a nice Clinton presidential appointee like Sanchez doing in a place like this? After all, our last Democratic president hired Sanchez in a variety of roles, the highest being Assistant U.S. Secretary for Transportation.

In front of 20 Obama volunteers in the La Union Marti-Maceo building in Ybor last week, Sanchez fired up the troops with the story of his personal conversion to Obama. He explained that he'd received a telephone call from Obama asking him to advise the campaign on Latin America and raise some money in Tampa. Sanchez said he told the Illinois senator, "I'm a loyal person. I'm struggling with the idea of not supporting Bill Clinton's wife." Obama told him to think it over. Sanchez explained to me earlier in the day that his loyalty to and admiration for Bill Clinton was still strong, but he doesn't share that same passion for Hillary Clinton's presidential aspirations. When a friend told him that not trusting his heart would be disloyal to himself, Sanchez called Obama the next day to sign up.

"I feel Barack Obama is a special opportunity for this time," he told the volunteers. "We've got the most amazing candidate we've had in 40 years."

On the Republican side, Giuliani — who would carry the presidential election in Florida if it were held today, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll — sounded an awful lot like Jack Bauer in his Tampa Bay appearance a week ago Wednesday: It's all about fighting the terrorists.

"Before September 11th, we were playing defense," Giuliani told the crowd of about 500 at St. Petersburg High School. "We put ourselves in jeopardy when we play defense." America's mayor explained that he doesn't blame any president in the past for not responding to terror stronger and earlier, saying "I don't blame people for that. Government is real complicated. They didn't perceive the danger. I don't blame them."

But now that the threat is real and demonstrated, Giuliani said, we must stay on the offensive. He said anything less than strident offensive action against terrorists would be irresponsible — and he threw military force in Afghanistan and Iraq into the category of necessary and supported.

In a post-9/11 world, "there is no excuse," Giuliani said. (The juxtaposition of Giuliani's positions with the Democratic Congressional effort to set a withdrawal date for Iraq and Speaker Nancy Pelosi's presence in Syria was not lost on the partisan crowd, which cheered his oblique attack against their rival party.)

The Republican frontrunner condoned the use of military, surveillance, the Patriot Act and tough and forceful ("but legal") interrogations as important components of staying on the offensive against terrorists.

Giuliani got a strong welcome from the Pinellas Republican Party, whose leaders have certainly chosen sides in the crowded primary contest. Not surprising given the fact that Chairman Tony DiMatteo is a native New Yorker and proud graduate of Brooklyn Tech. He stood at the door to St. Pete High and greeted VIPs with a hearty, "You here to meet the next president of the United States?" Another New Yorker, conservative GOP Pasco chief Bill Bunting, was in the audience.

Finally, Giuliani was presented with a Green Devils warm-up jacket by members of the student body, emblazoned with "Rudy 44" on the back. Giuliani laughed and held it up, saying the number had great significance for him. "You think you know why," he said, alluding to the fact that he would be president No. 44 if elected. "But this is why: This was Reggie Jackson's number."

Barack Obama will speak at a $25-a-ticket fundraiser at the Cuban Club, Ybor City, 2 p.m. April 15. For information, call 813-258-2224 or go to barackobama.com/contribute/cubanclub.

This article appears in Apr 11-17, 2007.