The next president of the United States could either be a relative of Brad Pitt or that of Pitt’s girlfriend Angelina Jolie.

But of course it’s not true that the next president will stay in Hollywood instead of Washington D.C. – although the presidency would surely be a star-studded one.

In an odd finding, researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society discovered that the two Democrat presidential bets – Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton – are actually relatives, although distant, of one of the hottest couples in Tinseltown.

Obama is a distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt, while Clinton is related to Angelina Jolie.

So, okay, all those who are fans of Brad Pitt, raise your hands for Obama. For Angelina Jolie fans, raise your hands for Clinton. Okay, there goes the result of the US presidential election.

Unfortunately for the Republican presidential candidate, John McCain has apparently no showbiz ties.

The researchers also found out that Clinton, who is of French-Canadian descent on her mother’s side, is a distant cousin of singers Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette.

No wonder Clinton won a Grammy in 1997 for best spoken word for her recorded speech “It Takes A Village.”

Clinton’s other distant cousins include beatnik author Jack Kerouac and Camilla Parker-Bowles, wife of Prince Charles of England.

Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, on the other hand, is related to six U.S. presidents — both Democrats and Republicans – one vice president, one prime minister and a general.

His distant cousins include President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. Other Obama cousins include Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

But although his relatives are mostly White House tenants, Obama could also challenge Clinton to a singing contest since he also won a Grammy this year for the audio version of his book, “The Audacity Of Hope: Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream.”

On the Republican side, McCain is a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush. McCain’s ancestry was more difficult to trace because records on his relatives were not as complete as records for the families of Obama and Clinton.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845, is the oldest and largest nonprofit genealogical organization in the United States.

So even if Clinton and Obama are emphasizing the difference between them during the election campaign, they are actually more alike than they think, genealogist Christopher Child said.

“It shows that lots of different people can be related, people you wouldn’t necessarily expect,” Child said.

Photo credit:
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (left) and actor Brad Pitt. (AP Photo)

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