WHETHER or not you agree with Bruce Springsteen’s politics, the boss and his Bush-whacking pals know how to rock the vote.

At last night’s Vote for Change concert at the Meadowlands arena, Bruce sprang into action to sway undecided voters in the house toward the Democratic Party, along with such like-minded opening acts as wife and bandmate Patti Scialfa, who kicked off the show, and Jackson Browne.

Notoriously cantankerous John Fogerty, scheduled to appear early in the concert, showed up late. But a bigger surprise came in the form of Eddie Vedder, who turned up in Springsteen’s headlining set to make a terrific addition to the vocals on “Darkness on the Edge of Town” and a version of the Pearl Jam classic “Betterman.” With all due respect to Bruce on his home turf, that was the single most powerful song of the night. Springsteen joked, “I heard those swing voters swinging on that one.”

While the political agenda of the show was clearly to unseat President Bush, it was remarkably free of overt Democratic chauvinism. Sure, there were speeches, but they were so brief and often well-crafted that there was no desire to shout out at any of the performers to shut up and sing.

In fact, the strongest and most obvious vote had nothing to do with the politics of who gets to move into or stay at the White House in January. It was a vote of confidence for Bruce, clearly among the most popular men ever to hail from Jersey.

If Springsteen ever decided to do a Schwarzenegger, he’d be shoo-in for whatever office he ran.

The Boss acted as master of ceremonies at the event. He introduced Browne (whom he inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year) as one of his favorite “activist songwriters.”

He did likewise for his missus.

In the high-powered company, Scialfa was a lightweight. But the crowd treated her set with respect, especially after her “lovely husband” joined her onstage to fatten up the guitar section.

Browne’s performance hit its peak with “The Pretender,” but it was when Bruce joined him onstage for “Running on Empty” that the crowd finally moved to his music. In a way, this was an important event, since it marked the first time since the 1980 “No Nukes” concert that Browne and Springsteen shared a stage.

When Springsteen and his band finally took the stage at 10:45, the house was primed for the powerhouse performance that was delivered.

The Boss wasted no time, and hit the ground running with a one-two punch of his best-loved, best-known numbers, “Born In The USA” and “Badlands.”

As always, nothing was held back during this performance. A couple of minutes into the set, the man was sweating, veins were bulging on his neck and forehead, and his eyes were clamped shut as he got lost in the music.

In turn, the devoted danced in their seats, making the concrete hall bounce.

The charisma and artistic honesty that Springsteen projected in the concert, and which is probably at his core, is something that both Sen. Kerry and President Bush could take a lesson from.