Hillary Clinton has Barbra Streisand. Mike Huckabee has Chuck Norris. And now presidential candidate Barack Obama has Scarlett Johansson.

After partying with beau Ryan Reynolds for New Year’s, the actress surfaced at the Iowa Caucuses on Thursday to support the Democratic contender and F.O.O. (Friend of Oprah).

An Obama press rep tells People the 23-year-old Lost in Translation star showed up at events in Des Moines and Coralville.

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Scarlett Johansson has angrily hit back at reports she’s the latest Hollywood starlet to go under the surgeon’s knife.

The 23-year-old Lost In Translation star is threatening legal action over claims in an American magazine that she had plastic or cosmetic surgery on nose.

The publication, which ran her picture with the cover line, ‘A List Nip/Tuck’, quotes her as saying: “I definitely believe in plastic surgery.

“I don’t want to be an old hag. There’s no fun in that.”

Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Raj Kanodia, who has performed nose jobs on Ashlee Simpson, Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz, told the magazine he estimates that 60 per cent of women in Hollywood undergo some type of procedure.

But Scarlett, who has been described by director Woody Allen as “criminally sexy”, has vigorously denied she’s had work.

She said in a statement: “I have always been straightforward with the press regarding my body image and I am very concerned that my fans (and perhaps even my employers) will feel mislead.

“Thus, I feel compelled to take immediate legal action against US Weekly.”

Her spokesperson slammed the report as “outrageous,” adding “there simply is no truth to the story.”

Scarlett has just wrapped work two projects - the romantic comedy He’s Just Not That Into You, co-starring Jennifer Aniston, and the Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Next up, she’s set to begin work as the leading lady in Mary Queen of Scots.

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Scarlett Johansson can’t get ex-boyfriend Josh Hartnett out of her mind - she has just bought a portrait of music legend Chet Baker, who the actor will play in a new film.

The actress, who is now dating another actor, Ryan Reynolds, tracked down a William Claxton photograph of the late trumpeter to Los Angeles art-space Morrison Hotel Gallery and bought it.

A source tells WENN, “She knew exactly what she wanted and explained she had been looking for the print for some time.”

Hartnett will play Baker in new movie “The Prince Of Cool.”

The 22-year-old blond starlet revealed at Elle magazine’s Women in Hollywood tribute last night at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills that she had recently traveled to Sri Lanka and India with the international antipoverty group Oxfam.

“The most gratifying opportunity was visiting a Dalit school,” Johansson said. “The Dalit community is considered the lowest status in the caste system, and children as young as four are working the fields.”

Johansson said she was so moved she made a donation to “financially support the school for the next three years.”

And that’s not all Scarlett is up to. She said she’s going to be traveling soon with the USO, the nonprofit primarily known for organizing trips that bring Hollywood stars to American troops overseas. (Her rep later told me, “It will be in early 2008 and for about a week. Can’t give out more than that for security reasons.”)

Johansson also acknowledged the more shallow benefits of celebrity while accepting her Icon Award from her In Good Company costar Topher Grace. “Never before has a table at Osteria Mozza [celebrity chef Mario Batali’s new restaurant in L.A.] been so available,” she said, before running down another perk. “Wait on line at the airport? Not anymore!”

Then it was time for a Hollywood legend. Director Rob Reiner, who presented an award to Lauren Bacall, recalled the time the two had visited a Giorgio Armani store to outfit Bacall for the movie Misery, which he directed.

“I was just hoping to see her naked,” Reiner cracked, “so I could see what Bogey saw. But I saw nothing!”

“He should be grateful he did not see me naked,” Bacall shot back.

Bacall, who received the only standing ovation of the night, couldn’t have been more humble in accepting her award. “I’m very glad to be here, because it proves I’m breathing,” the 83-year-old legend quipped. “A lot of people think I’m dead.”

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An iconic film star at age 22, Scarlett Johansson has revived Woody Allen’s creative muse and is about to drop an album.

On being Woody Allen’s muse:

“We’ve joked about that word. Woody says, ‘You appear and my writer’s block is cured.’”

On Woody Allen:

“Woody’s mannerisms and his wit are classically him. But when you know someone, your conversation has an intimacy that you couldn’t have predicted from seeing him on the screen. Woody surprises me all the time. On film, you see his neurotic side but not his sensitivity.”

On being fondled by Isaac Mizrahi at last year’s Golden Globes:

“I was so mortified. Holy moly, that was bizarre!”

Elle Magazine