Prominent Republicans Cross the Aisle to Endorse Obama
http://www.truthout.org/102508Z
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/24/uselections2008-republicans-obama-obamicans
Washington - Joel Haugen, a Republican fighting a tough congressional
race against the Democrats in Oregon, has fallen out with his party.
The reason: his surprise endorsement of Barack Obama for the
presidency.
"I believe in putting nation before party and my first priority is
following my conscience with regard to what is best for America,"
Haugen said in a statement issued by his office today. "I have a huge
amount of respect for John McCain, but I believe that he has more of a
cold war mentality."
Haugen is just one of many Republican politicians, dubbed
"Obamicans", who have defected to Obama. The latest high-profile
desertions include Scott McClellan, George Bush's former press
secretary, who endorses Obama in a taped CNN programme to be broadcast
this weekend, and William Weld, the Republican governor of
Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997.
Weld, in a statement released today ahead of a press conference in
New Hampshire, described Obama as "a once-in-a-lifetime candidate."
Last weekend, Bush's former secretary of state, Colin Powell,
Obama's biggest Republican catch so far, publicly backed the
Democratic candidate.
It is unusual to see so many prominent Republican politicians and
columnists shift, even allowing for the fact that party affiliations
are more fluid in the US than Europe.
The 'Obamicans' have their own website, listing those who have
endorsed Obama and exchanging views. Campaign paraphernalia is also
available from Barack Obama's team that includes a "Republicans for
Obama" button badge.
According to Haugen's campaign manager, Sarah Tiedeman, he made no
secret of his views while fighting for the party nomination, telling
the press about his unhappiness with Bush's eight years in office and
that he was likely to endorse Obama over McCain. He won 70% of the
nomination vote.
The Republican party became increasingly "unfriendly", Tiedemann
said, and has since withdrawn all financial support.
Haugen, as a compromise, is now standing under an independent
banner, though he remains a registered Republican. Tiedemann said the
reaction among Republicans over his endorsement was mixed. She
acknowledged it was "unusual" to make such an endorsement but Haugen
"feels the Republican party has got so far from its roots."
Other defectors include Arne Carlson, the Republican governor of
Minnesota from 1991 to 1999, who wrote in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune
yesterday: "The choice of governor Sarah Palin as a running mate, and
the resultant shallow campaign based on fear and suspicion, looks
frighteningly similar to the politics of Karl Rove [Bush's campaign
strategist]."
He described Obama as having "the potential to become a truly
great president".
McClellan, who published a book earlier this year critical of the
Bush administration, accusing it of lying, told CNN he would vote for
Obama because he offered the best chance of changing the way
Washington works.
The founders of Republicans for Obama include a former Iowa
congressman, Jim Leach; a former Rhode Island senator, Lincoln Chafee,
and a former Bush fund-raiser, Rita Hauser.
Another defector this week is Ken Adelman, a foreign policy
adviser to Ronald Reagan, who told the New Yorker he would endorse
Obama because of McCain's temperament, describing as weird his
behaviour in response when the economic meltdown began.
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