Campaign is coordinating a blitz by the ‘Obamacans’

[Janett_Reno]

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/...008-07-23.html

Barack Obama’s campaign is talking with Republicans who have endorsed his presidential bid, seeking to coordinate a publicity blitz together.


The campaign recently held a conference call with a small group of officials who are or who have previously been identified with the Republican Party, according to sources who were on the call.

The initiative to highlight the backing of “Obamacans” is in its infancy. But campaign events featuring Republicans praising Obama are seen as an effective counterpunch to Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-Conn.) aggressive backing of Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) White House bid.


Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee said in a telephone interview this week that he participated in the Obama conference call. Chafee served in the upper chamber from 1999 to 2006 as a Republican representing Rhode Island. Since his reelection loss, he has left the Republican Party and endorsed Sen. Obama (D-Ill.).


Chafee said the GOP-related Obama initiative is in the “beginning phases,” and indicated that the talks will be continuing in the weeks ahead.


Douglas Kmiec, a professor at the Pepperdine University School of Law who was co-chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign’s Committee for the Courts and the Constitution, has also backed Obama.


In an e-mail, Kmiec said he has been in contact with the Obama campaign, adding: “I think you’ll see a fairly well-designed website to begin; after that, I’m not sure if there will be print ads and such and how tightly the surrogate speaking will be coordinated.”


Sources say the Obama campaign effort will probably not occur until after the selection of a vice presidential candidate and the Democratic convention.


Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Eisenhower and a self-described “lifelong Republican,” was also on the call with the Obama campaign, which she said took place in recent days.


Eisenhower, who penned an op-ed in February in The Washington Post backing Obama, stressed that she has not made any decisions on what public role, if any, she will play for the campaign.

Eisenhower is president of the Eisenhower Group, which provides strategic counsel on political, business and public affairs projects.


Eisenhower said she was impressed when she met Obama in the spring of 2007 through “one or two” friends on the Obama finance committee.


During an interview on MSNBC this year, Eisenhower said there is no comparison between her grandfather’s foreign policy and the foreign policy of today’s Republican Party.


Over the last few months, there has been speculation that Lieberman will speak at the Republican National Committee Convention.


In April, Lieberman told The Hill, “If Sen. McCain, who I support so strongly, asked me to do it, if he thinks it will help him, I will.”

Chafee said he “hadn’t thought” of addressing the Democratic National Convention in Denver and that he “hadn’t been asked.” Throughout his Senate career, Chafee regularly bucked the Republican Party and was the only Republican in the Senate who voted against the Iraq war in 2002. He refused to endorse President Bush in 2004 and instead wrote in former President George H.W. Bush’s name when he voted.


Larry Hunter, a former adviser to President Reagan and president of the Social Security Institute, said he might consider working with the Obama campaign if asked. Hunter, who said he will attend the Democratic convention in Denver, has been critical of both McCain and Obama for their Social Security plans. He added he “has taken quite a bit of criticism” from GOP friends since he publicly backed Obama.


Texas businessman and former Marine Jack Holt said this year would be the first time he has ever voted for a Democrat to be president. Holt endorsed Obama in 2007 after supporting McCain and Bush years ago. He cited the Iraq war and fiscal responsibility as the main reasons why some Republicans are crossing over.


McCain has sharply criticized the GOP’s recent fiscal record and has pledged to rein in spending.
Nick Shapiro, an Obama campaign spokesman, said, “We are reaching out to Independents and Republicans who know that our country can’t afford another four years of President Bush’s failed policies…. The network of volunteers and the infrastructure built up during the primaries have given us an enormous and unprecedented opportunity to reach out to Republicans in states that have traditionally been red in the past.”


Tucker Bounds, a McCain campaign spokesman, said, “John McCain has strong support among independents, Republicans and conservative Democrats — because he’s a proven bipartisan reformer and who puts his country before politics and partisanship. Barack Obama on the other hand did not win the majority of voters in his primary election — that’s a far-cry from universal support even in his own party.”


There has been a lot of conjecture that Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) will endorse Obama. Hagel, a critic of the Iraq war, is the only senator who has not endorsed a presidential candidate. Hagel is traveling with Obama and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) on their congressional delegation trip to the Middle East.


Similarly, retired Gen. Colin Powell said in April he has not decided whom he will vote for this fall. Powell, who served as President Bush’s secretary of State, donated to McCain’s campaign in 2007, but made clear the contribution should not be read as an endorsement of the Arizona senator.


In 2004, Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) was the keynote speaker at the Republican convention and delivered a scathing speech about Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), then the Democratic presidential nominee. Miller did not respond to a request for comment on which candidate he backs this year.