Woodstock and the anti-Vietnam movement. The Sex Pistols calling for anarchy in the U.K. Beastie Boy Adam Yauch protesting at the Chinese Embassy in Chicago, demanding freedom for Tibetans.

For decades, political activism and music have gone hand in hand — that’s no surprise.

But right-wing politics?

As herds of conservatives flocked to Ames for this month’s straw poll, The Nadas made for an unlikely soundtrack.

On Aug. 14, the Ames band played at George W. Bush’s campaign tent. Why would Bush’s campaign want to book a band like The Nadas?

“George W. Bush is a big fan of ours,” Nadas singer/guitarist Jason Walsmith says jokingly, knowing it isn’t true. He continues in a more serious tone. “They probably just had a member of the staff tell him he would like us. I don’t know if he saw a note.”

Eric Woolson, Iowa press coordinator for the George W. Bush campaign, says booking The Nadas fit in with many of Bush’s campaign goals.

“We knew they were good and had local appeal,” he says. “The governor wanted to make his straw poll acts fun for the college audience and younger voters.”

The Nadas were originally supposed to play for Ohio Republican John Kasich. When Kasich dropped out of the race, the band was given offers to play for Bush, Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Dole. The Bush campaign was the best offer, so the band took it.

“[Bush] wants to be plugged-in to the local hot things,” Nadas manager Dave Haldin says. “And The Nadas, that’s the local hot band. The Nadas have a huge draw in central Iowa. They found that out and zeroed in on that.”

Between sets, the band shook hands with Bush and had their picture taken with him.

“He’s a nice guy. I think anybody on that level of the public eye is kind of fun to brush shoulders with,” Walsmith says from his cellular phone in Fort Collins, Colo., where The Nadas played last night.

As expected, the straw poll audience was quite different from the typical Nadas audience.

“There were some college students there, but they weren’t exactly toting their Wednesday Mug Night mugs,” Walsmith says, adding that a handful of Republicans are probably present at a regular Nadas show anyway.

However, Walsmith does not want anyone to think The Nadas are endorsing any Republican hopefuls.

“It’s not like our music is political in nature,” he says. “Every politician there had entertainment, and that’s just what it was for us — just entertainment.

“All of us claim no political alignment,” he continues. “We’re definitely not afraid to put opinion in our songs. But that’s a different story than aligning yourself with a candidate.”

In a weekly e-mail, The Nadas urged their fans to attend the performance.

“We just said ‘come watch us at the straw poll and go vote for whoever you want.'”