Obama, Romney to spend final campaign stops in states that got them started

President Obama and Mitt Romney will spend their final campaign stops in the states that got them started, and they’ll be joined by a virtual who’s-who of Billboard chart-topping musicians.

After months of rallies, campaign ads and debates, Monday will be the final day for Obama and Romney to encourage their supporters to get to the polls.

And they’ll be joined in a final tour of the critical swing states by some of their most famous admirers.

{mosads}Singer Bruce Springsteen will join the president on a three-stop swing through the Midwest on Monday, the Obama campaign announced Thursday. The pair will start the day in Madison, Wis., and then travel to Columbus, Ohio, where hip-hop artist Jay-Z also plans to address supporters. Then Obama will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, where he will be joined by first lady Michelle Obama and where Springsteen is slated to perform a final time.

Meanwhile, Mitt and Ann Romney will host their final campaign event in Manchester, N.H., with musician Kid Rock, whose “Born Free” anthem has introduced Romney at every campaign stop through the election. They will be in Ohio earlier in the day with the Marshall Tucker Band.

Obama will spend Election Day in Chicago and Romney will spend the day in Boston, with each planning to address supporters that evening in their hometowns — hopefully as the victor.

For both candidates, their final campaign stops will be a return to the states that provided their first major victories in the race for the White House. It was Obama’s defeat of John Edwards and Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Iowa caucuses that propelled the now-president to the Democratic nomination; similarly, Romney’s trouncing of the Republican field in the 2012 New Hampshire primary paved the way for his eventual nomination earlier this year.

And the musicians involved in the election-eve activities have a similarly nostalgic place for each of the candidates. For Obama, Jay-Z and wife Beyonce Knowles have been avid supporters and friends since the early days of the campaign.

In 2010, Jay-Z famously visited the White House, and even sparked a minor controversy when pictures of the hip-hop legend surveying the Situation Room were tweeted online. Earlier this year, he and Beyonce hosted the president for a $40,000-per-plate fundraiser at Jay-Z’s 40/40 club in Manhattan.

Meanwhile, Kid Rock was the featured — and surprise — star at a rally for Romney the night before the pivotal Michigan Republican primary, rallying voters in Romney’s home state and helping the eventual Republican nominee stave off a late challenge by former Sen. Rick Santorum. The Detroit native has made multiple campaign appearances for Romney since, and performed at one of the largest events at this summer’s Republican National Convention.

Springsteen has also been a staple of the campaign trail in recent weeks, performing free concerts at rallies in Virginia and Ohio.

That being said, the New Jersey rocker has not always had the best luck rallying for Democratic candidates. In 2004, Springsteen spent five days in the last week of campaigning with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), drawing huge crowds — including nearly 80,000 to a campaign event in Madison, one of the stops planned on his tour with Obama this time around. But that enthusiasm ultimately did not translate at the polls, where Kerry was defeated by former President George W. Bush.