Article snippet: The battle for celebrity support — and dollars — is growing in the Democratic presidential primary. Sen. MORE as likely benefactors of some of the performers who were rooting for her. Celebrity backers, much like Democratic primary voters, are desperate to find the candidate most likely to defeat MORE. "Hollywood tends to like a fresh face, so I can see them having an interest in [South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete] Buttigieg as well," says Mollineau. The Hill reached out to the representatives for several stars who had supported Harris, including Kaling, Lance Bass, "Modern Family's" Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Anthony Anderson from "Black-ish,” but all were either unavailable or didn't return a request for comment. "The key is to get those endorsements as you’re coming out of the gate," says University of Southern California (USC) history professor Steve Ross. "Because what people misunderstand is the purpose of the celebrity endorsement is not to translate the celebrity’s endorsement into a direct vote. That would assume we’re really all idiots," adds Ross, the author of “Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics." Instead, he says, "If it’s a celebrity you respect, what the main purpose of that endorsement is, is to give the candidate a closer second look." While Harris had many Hollywood allies, other candidates have already been raking in the dough from Tinseltown-based donors. Buttigieg, who was virtually unknown nationally before launching... Link to the full article to read more