Harry and Kumar go to the stump

By Karoun Demirjian

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010 | 9:02 p.m.

Harry Reid is bringing along a little celebrity to his campaign stops Wednesday, making three appearances with Hollywood actor-turned-Obama staffer-turned-actor again Kal Penn.

Penn, best known to moviegoing audiences as the cannabis-chasing Kumar who went to White Castle, more commonly is paired with a different Harry — err, Harold that is.

He and actor John Cho popularized the odd couple of "Harold and Kumar" — two over-achieving, Asian-American, 20-something, Generation Y roommates — in what are now cult-classic movies about their herbally laced hijinks trying to chase down the perfect cheeseburger and stage an escape Guantanamo Bay (with the help of Cuban refugees).

Penn also is known to television audiences for his role as Dr. Lawrence Kutner on Fox's drama "House."

While he's certainly not the first celebrity Reid has rolled out on the campaign trail, Penn has more real political experience on his résumé than most activist actors.

He took a hiatus from show business in 2009 to become the associate director of public engagement for Obama, after actively campaigning for the president during the 2008 election season. But he left his position at the White House to go back to making White Castle sequels this past June. He has remained active on the campaign trail for various candidates during the 2010 midterms.

Reid and Penn appear in Reno in the morning and then will join up with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke for an event in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson in the afternoon, which begs the question — where do they plan to stop for the lunch munchies? The campaign's press release wasn't clear. But it probably won't be White Castle; the nearest one is in Missouri.