The 2004 presidential election has made Iowa a fly strip for candidates, political activists and now — celebrities.

Actor and Iowa native Ron Livingston, star of the 1999 cult comedy “Office Space,” sipped coffee with supporters of presidential candidate John Kerry on Saturday afternoon at Stomping Grounds, 303 Welch Ave.

Livingston says he wasn’t there to swing votes through his fame.

“I’m not here because I’m a celebrity,” Livingston says. “You might be [because I’m a celebrity]. I’m not an expert. You don’t have to be an expert to see how clear this choice is. This isn’t a country where only experts get to vote.”

Clad in a brown jacket and jeans, Livingston leaned back in his chair and spoke slowly, pausing frequently to collect his thoughts. Periodically, he’d pick a leaf up from the terrace outside the coffee shop and grind it in his hand. Proudly displayed on his jacket was a button reading, “Ask me why I’m voting for John Kerry.”

“Kerry brings — aside from experience as a lawmaker — understanding of the value of the Constitution,” he says. “He knows what it means to lead and to serve in combat.”

Livingston voiced disappointment for the Bush administration and brought the problem into terms students could understand.

“If the Cyclones’ coach did this bad of a job, he’d get fired in the middle of the season, or he would quit out of self-respect,” he says.

Participation in this election is key, Livingston says. After the fiasco surrounding the 2000 election, Livingston says, no one can afford to be passive.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance,” he says. “What we do will decide the course of history. In Australia, they fine you if you do not vote.”

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of “South Park,” said if you don’t know the issues, you shouldn’t vote — and Livingston says this mentality is ridiculous.

“I think that’s crap,” he says. “Everyone is qualified to vote. If you have nothing more to go on than your gut instinct, go with your gut instinct.”

Not only that, but Livingston says people who know about all the issues and feel strongly about them can be dangerous.

“If the only people who vote are 100 percent certain — then you have extremists who vote for extremist policy.”

Being a comedic actor, Livingston says there is one person who doesn’t take his cause seriously.

“Just my girlfriend,” he says. “I’m here because I want to see a change in the government. We have to seize what there is to be done. It’s exciting, I think it’s an exciting time.”

Livingston started off in Cedar Rapids, but now lives in Los Angeles. He says since California is pretty much pro-Kerry, Iowa is the best place for him to be right now.

“This is where it’s going to be won or lost,” Livingston says. “Especially in Iowa, people are turning out to register and vote.”