Clint Eastwood, without empty chair, returns to tout Mitt Romney

By John Horn

Oct. 24, 2012 12 AM PT

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Hollywood doesn’t usually make sequels to flops, but Clint Eastwood doesn’t typically follow convention. So less than two months after the actor-director’s infamous “Empty Chair” speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Eastwood is back supporting Gov. Mitt Romney in a new advertisement backed by the “super PAC” American Crossroads.

The new commercial, called “At Stake,” is part of a new $12.6-million ad blitz backed by conservative consultant Karl Rove’s political action committee. Three spots, including Eastwood’s, will be shown in the swing states of Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada and Virginia.

Unlike his widely mocked appearance at the Republican convention in August, in which a rambling Eastwood addressed an empty chair, the “Dirty Harry” star is succinct, and speaks straight into the camera.

“For the last few years America has been knocked down. Twenty-three million people can’t find full-time work, and we borrow $4 billion every single day, much of it from China,” Eastwood says.

“When someone doesn’t get the job done, you gotta hold them accountable. Obama’s second term would be a rerun of the first, and our country just couldn’t survive that. We need someone who can turn it around fast, and that man is Mitt Romney. There’s not much time left, and the future of our country is at stake.”

Eastwood isn’t the only Hollywood personality with a spot in the presidential race. Morgan Freeman, promoting President Obama, narrates a commercial called “Challenges.”

In it, Freeman, who worked opposite Eastwood in the Oscar-winning movie “Million Dollar Baby,” says, “Every president inherits challenges. Few have faced so many…. There are still challenges to meet. Children to educate. A middle class to rebuild. But the last thing we should do is turn back now.”