The Obama campaign touts Republicans like Rep. Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland, former Iowa Rep. Jim Leach and former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee.
Recently a high profile Clinton supporter and DNC member, Lynn Forester de Rothschild also known as a "Hillraiser" (someone that helped collect over $100,000 for the Clinton campaign) made a public announcement that she was endorsing John McCain and would be campaigning on his behalf until election day.
Yesterday we reported that real estate magnate Donald Trump had announced his endorsement of John McCain and he did so on CNN's Larry King. Trump has previously donated to Hillary Clinton until May when he made contributions to the McCain campaign
Today we see more previous Clinton supporters coming out in favor of McCain, such as lifelong Democrat Miguel D. Lausell who is a leading Latino backer of Hillary Clinton.
Lausell is a Puerto Rican businessman and longtime Democratic activist and fund-raiser and he says that while he doesn't agree with McCain on every policy issue, he finds "McCain to be a sound person and a man with a track record." He continues on to say "I know where he is coming from."
Mr. Lausell said he feels Sen. Obama "doesn't really regard the Hispanic community as important." Sen. Clinton won a large majority of the Hispanic vote in most primaries, and Latino voters are an important bloc in swing states such as Florida, Nevada and New Mexico. Most polls show Sen. Obama leads Sen. McCain among Latinos.
Mr. Lausell said that as a "lifelong Democrat," this is the first time he has supported a Republican presidential candidate. A Harvard Law School graduate, Mr. Lausell's business career has included a stint as chief executive of the Puerto Rico Telephone Co. and chairman of PonceBank, a large Puerto Rican financial institution. Mr. Lausell once had a position with the Democratic National Committee and served on a national finance board for Al Gore's unsuccessful 2000 presidential run. In 2004, he helped start a nonprofit aimed at boosting Latino turnout for Democrats.
Lausell gives his reason for opposing Obama as president by saying, "The U.S. is in a very difficult situation these days and I don't want someone without experience at the helm."
Other registered Democrats, every day voters, are going to see McCain/Palin's campaign stops and rallies and saying they too will be voting for McCain in November.
Kathy Riordan of Wausau is a registered Democrat who planned to vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Now she intends to cast a ballot for Republican presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska.
“I think Sarah Palin is an excellent choice, and not just because she’s a woman,” Riordan said before Thursday’s McCain-Palin rally at the Resch Center. “It’s good to have a governor on one of the tickets. … I think she brings a different set of skills.”
While the latest Rasmussen poll shows McCain and Obama still tied, people are starting to pay attention to the choices before them and more and more former Clinton supporters that had previously not made up their minds are finding themselves drawn to the McCain/Palin ticket.
Riordan says her decision has nothing to do with gender, but is instead based on politics. Her problem with Obama she says is that he is too far to the left for her liking.
Now that prominent Clinton supporters are going public with their support for John McCain, it will not be surprising if many more follow their lead.
[Update] Hat Tip to NewsBusters we see Rothschild explain her support for John McCain in the video below.
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