WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has Springsteen. Republican Mitt Romney has his sons.

They, along with dozens of other celebrities and elected officials, are blitzing through battleground states in the White House race's final days. Their goal: give the presidential campaigns a daily presence in key states even when the men at the top of the ticket (and their running mates) pitch for votes somewhere else.

But these surrogates aren't just viewed as a bonus by the campaigns. They're deployed strategically to shore up crucial constituencies.

That's why Bruce Springsteen and Bill Clinton, two heroes of the middle class, campaigned together last week in Ohio, where white, working-class voters make up about half the electorate.

"This is not a complicated decision," Clinton said there. "If somebody saved my economy, I'd be for him."

Obama's campaign also sent Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a prominent Jewish politician, to heavily Jewish South Florida this week. And Sandra Fluke, who gained notoriety during the political debate over contraception earlier this year, has been appealing to women voters in Colorado and Nevada.

Romney's campaign has turned to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to rally Hispanic voters in his home state, as well as in Colorado and Nevada, battlegrounds with big Hispanic populations. Former GOP nominee John McCain, who twice won New Hampshire's Republican primary, has been campaigning there for Romney. And Rick Santorum has sought to burnish his GOP primary rival's conservative credentials in North Carolina.

Romney's five adult sons have been among his most effective surrogates. Their focus in countless campaign appearances across the country has been to show their father's softer side.

Romney has used one son in particular, Craig, a fluent Spanish speaker, to help broaden his appeal to Hispanic audiences. Craig Romney addressed the Republican convention in Spanish and also has recorded numerous Spanish-language radio ads for his father.

"Between my five kids and my brothers, there are 18 grandkids now that my dad has," son Josh Romney told voters in Virginia this month. "So he thinks about those 18 grandkids. This is why he's in the race."

Obama has popular kids, too. But at ages 14 and 11, don't expect to see Malia and Sasha holding solo campaign events in the dwindling days of the race. In fact, the Obama girls have been largely absent from their father's re-election campaign, except for a brief appearance with their parents at the Democratic Party's national convention.