McLaughlin explains Republicans for Obama

What’s going on here? Why are Republicans and conservatives so strongly supporting the most liberal senator in the country?

The answer is a simple case of “never overlook the obvious”: Obama attracts these unlikely supporters because he’s running against a woman who has an 80 percent unfavorable rating with Republicans. Why wait to vote against Hillary Clinton in November when you can do it now? Why waste a vote on Rev. Huckabee when God wants you to vote against Sen. Clinton?
(National Review)

McLaughlin probably has it right, though I am sure there are a few milquetoast Republicans who want a candidate who unites rather than dividing--the Republican version of the many Democrats who voted for Bush over Al Gore. New tone in Washington and all that.

The following story, published back in May 2007, helps illustrate.

Republicans defect to the Obama camp

Sarah Baxter, Washington

DISILLUSIONED supporters of President George W Bush are defecting to Barack Obama, the Democratic senator for Illinois, as the White House candidate with the best chance of uniting a divided nation.

Tom Bernstein went to Yale University with Bush and co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team with him. In 2004 he donated the maximum $2,000 to the president’s reelection campaign and gave $50,000 to the Republican National Committee. This year he is switching his support to Obama. He is one of many former Bush admirers who find the Democrat newcomer appealing.

(The New York Times)

What the story doesn't tell is that Bernstein voted and donated Democrat until George W. Bush ran for president. Likewise Matthew Dowd, the next example in the story, worked on the Democratic side of the aisle until Bush's Texas bipartisanship won him over.

The story even uses approval of one particular Obama speech by (Republican) Robert Kagan as evidence to fit under the headline.

Could McLaughlin be wrong? Could Obama draw forth a wellspring of Republican support?

Sure, anything's possible. Right now the evidence does not appear to support it, and head-to-head polling between McCain and Obama should serve as a more reliable indication of moderate leanings than primary voting patterns.

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