McGraw bucks conservative country image

NEW YORK—Country music might seem like a pretty conservative medium, but Tim McGraw is bucking the trend. "It's innate in me to be a Democrat — a true Southern populist kind of Democrat. There's not a lot of those anymore," McGraw tells Time magazine in its Oct. 23 issue.
"The issues that matter to me are the social safety nets for people, health care, middle-class concerns. We need to take care of the middle class and the poor in our country. The chasm is getting larger between haves and have-nots, and that's something we need to close down a little bit," says the singer and star of "Flicka."
Could that mean a McGraw on an election ticket soon?
"One of these days, if the opportunity's there, that's something I'd love to do," he says. "It's a high calling to serve the community, and if you can do it, I think you should."—Agencies