Over 268 iowa Republicans will caucus for Obama

[illinoisprogressive]

You can flame as much as you want but, Obama got over 300 people to cross over to the democratic side. And they are now democrats who are supporting him and in Iowa will caucus for him.
this is a victory for Obama and the democratic party as we are growing in numbers.


Today 268 Iowa Republicans announced that they will caucus for Senator Barack Obama and 68 New Hampshire Republicans announced that they had changed their party registration to vote for Barack Obama in the primary, saying he is the only candidate in either party who can break through the gridlock in Washington because he has a proven record of bringing Republicans and Democrats together to solve problems. In Illinois, Obama bridged the partisan divide to extend health care to 150,000 Illinois families, pass a $100 million tax cut for working families and enact historic ethics reform.

“With all of the challenges our country faces, we cannot elect a President who will go to Washington and just get bogged down by the same partisan gridlock,” Brett Blix said. “That’s why I’m supporting Senator Obama even though I’m a Republican. He’s the only candidate in either party with a record of bringing Republicans and Democrats together to solve problems, and he will always tell you where he stands even when you disagree. There are thousands of disaffected Republicans like me who are disappointed by President Bush and the Republican presidential candidates who would consider voting for a Democrat who can bring about change we can believe in.”

Brett Blix is 30-year-old Iraq war veteran from Northwood, Iowa. He recently switched his party registration so that he can caucus for Senator Obama.

“I’ve been a Republican all my life, but the challenges we face are too great to choose a candidate based on his party—we need to the choose the candidate who can bring fundamental change to Washington and start getting things done again,” Jerry Spivak said. “Barack Obama is the only candidate who will be able to break the partisan logjam and inspire Americans to come together around real solutions.”

Jerry Spivak is a 57-year-old engineer from Nashua, New Hampshire. He recently switched his party registration so that he can vote for Senator Obama in the primary.

This public support from Republicans is yet another sign of Senator Obama’s crossover appeal. Previously, Obama received third place in a poll of Republican Iowa caucus goers – receiving more support from Republicans than Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Sam Brownback combined.

“I’ve always believed that you can only bring about real change when people come together across party lines, and I’ve seen what happens when folks put politics aside and get down to work,” Senator Obama said. “If you can’t bring people together across the old fault lines, you simply aren’t going to be able to make progress on the challenges we face.”


http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post_group/ObamaHQ/C5B5

[Ian David]

1. Uhm... what if the Repukes are doing this to sabotage the process? n/t

[jenmito]

17. Um, what if they're not? n/t

[rinsd]

2. Guess the gay bashing gospel tour paid off. Way to go Barack!

:puke:

Well at least like good little Republicans they can dutifully repeat Obama's talking points.

[jenmito]

15. OR they like his message of real change!

You can rationalize all you want.

[zulchzulu]

20. Maybe they didn't see homophobe Rev. Harold Mulberry's statement on Hillary's web site

:shrug:

[rinsd]

22. Exactly. One was a quick paragraph in a press release, the other was MCing a huge fundraiser

Obama got what he wanted.

He made his signal LOUD and clear.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

28. Yeah, it's way too hard to remove a press release from your website

And return a few small contributions.

[BeyondGeography]

23. He was getting these voters long before McClurkipalooza and you know it

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/12484.html

[bigdarryl]

3. Thats what I call General Election appeal

[jefferson_dem]

4. Great news!

Put stinky, stale partisanship behind -- time to unite for positive progressive change. :applause:

[cuke]

5. Now, if he can only get Dems to caucus with him, he'll have a chance

[youthere]

25. Okay..I disagree vehemently with that...

but it was funny as hell, all the same. :rofl:

[tammywammy]

6. I think it's good if any democratic candidate can pull republicans

These are probably your more "moderate" people anyways, not the die hards (they wouldn't vote dem if it would save their life).

Any dem candidate that can pull over some republicans is looking good for the general anyways...just like if a repub can pull over the more moderate dems to.

[Clintonista2]

7. There's a reason for that

Republicans don't do anything unless they know there's something in it for them...

[William769]

8. Well theres that second reason,

BIGOTS hang together.

[Bluzmann57]

9. They may be disruptors

who really don't want Obama to win, but just want to stir up trouble. But if they are to attend the Iowa caucuses they must register as Democrats and will not be able to attend the republican caucuses, which are being held the same night.

[ClarkUSA]

16. They sound sincere enough. Remember Reagan Democrats?

They are probably as sincere as Reagan Democrats were in their time. Perhaps even more motivated, since changing
a lifelong affiliation to caucus is no small decision. I can understand moderate Republicans' disgust with the current
crop of GOP frontrunners.

I'm glad whenever Democrats can convince Republicans to crossover. Jim Webb won his Senate seat in Virginia the
same way. Gov. Mark Warner is another Democrat who'll do the same thing in winning Sen. John Warner's seat.
We'll need every crossover vote we can get in 2008 in order to have coattails to get good majorities in Congress.

[bobthedrummer]

10. Considering that Senator Obama has among his advisors folks like former

USAF Major General Scott Gration (who assisted with the stance taken in speeches given by the Senator like ordering US military into Pakistan in the "war on terror") and another former USAF General, the Republican that led Robert Dole's 1996 Oregon campaign, Merrill McPeak-well, I'm not surprised.

After all it was The Rendon Group that staged his national debut at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, and he still has Robert Gibbs (another perception management guru-did the Osama bin Laden/Howard Dean "ad") as Communications director.

The USAF is full of heretics, cultists and Holy Warrior RW fascists-the fact that several are "advising" him is troubling. This brings the question of experience into serious consideration.

Especially McPeak, who did speak against the Decider-as a Republican.

Merrill McPeak profile from Source Watch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Merrill_A._McPeak

[ClarkUSA]

11. Didn't McPeak also endorse Howard Dean and campaign for him in 2003-4?

That name sounds familiar. I've read that many Dean campaign staffers now work for Obama.

[rinsd]

12. Yes, he campaigned for Dean.

According to wiki

In 1996, McPeak served as Oregon state chairman for the Bob Dole for President campaign. During the presidential election of 2000 McPeak endorsed George W. Bush and served as co-chairman of Oregon Veterans for Bush. <1>

As the military and foreign policy of the Bush administration coalesced, however, McPeak expressed strong objections, especially with regard to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. McPeak later openly campaigned for Howard Dean's nomination, and when Dean withdrew, acted as an adviser for the John Kerry campaign. He was also one of twenty-seven signatories to the statement of the "Committee of Diplomats & Commanders for Change" calling the Bush Administration a failure at "preserving national security" and calling for Bush not to be re-elected.

He now is working as a co-chair on Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

[ClarkUSA]

18. Thanks for the confirmation, rinsd.

I never forget a name, although I sometimes need help remembering the details. lol

[bobthedrummer]

19. Thanks for the clarification. Former Major General Scott Gration is also an Obama advisor.

IMPEACH CHENEY FIRST-IMPEACH CHENEY NOW!
:patriot:

[bobthedrummer]

14. I doubt it, check out the Source Watch profile.

Robert Gibbs, otoh, did work for the Kerry campaign for awhile-he is the perception management guy that "produced" the Osama bin Laden/Howard Dean thing when Dean's campaign was doing very well in 2004-as far as I know Gibbs is still Senator Obama's director of communications.

McPeak, Gration and some of the other former USAF advisors are not good for any Democratic candidate imho, they aren't representative of the message we, the people sent last November.

IMPEACH CHENEY FIRST-IMPEACH CHENEY NOW!

[jenmito]

13. GREAT news! Yes, he is the one who can bring this country together

without compromising his positions!

[rinsd]

24. So he has Republican positions then?

:shrug:

[jenmito]

27. NO! That's the beauty of Obama. He has Dem. positions but is not polarizing

and people, even Repubs. who are tired of the partisanship, recognize this. The irony is Hillary has much more Repub. positions but they still hate her because she changes with the wind and they have bad memories of her.

[Ian David]

29. By "Republican Positions" do you mean on his knees in a mens' room? n/t

[illinoisprogressive]

21. this is showing that Obama is very electable and has crossover appeal.

I posted earlier that Obama and Edwards received 57% of independents and Hillary got only 30%. with the crossover of gop people, indies - that is how you win. You cannot win by democrats alone.

[AtomicKitten]

26. That's how you win.

Hell yes!