Republicans for Obama -- Jim Leach, Susan Eisenhower & More

We're fascinated.

Newsweek reported this growing story early --February 2008, calling it, "Barack + GOP = Obamacans." According to the story, Susan Eisenhower said she,

"Has no plans to officially leave the Republican Party. But in Eisenhower's view, Obama is the only candidate who can build a national consensus on the issues most important to her—energy, global warming, an aging population and America's standing in the world."

Now -- August, 2008, Republicans are organizing for Obama. Mike Glover, for the Associated Press reports, "Former Republican Congressman Endorses Obama."

The New York Times reports,

"About 20 current and former Republicans make up the group’s leadership committee, including Douglas Kmiec, a Republican who served in the Justice Department under President Ronald Reagan and was a supporter of Mitt Romney during the Republican primary, and Dorothy Danforth Burlin, a Washington lawyer who is the daughter of former U.S. Senator John Danforth, another moderate Republican."

And FT.com reports, "Three Prominent Republicans endorse Obama," saying that

"Most "Obamacans", among them Susan Eisenhower, the grand-daughter of the former Republican president, Dwight Eisenhower, come from the so-called realist wing of the Republican party which has fallen into deep disenchantment with George W. Bush's foreign policy."

• Most fascinating of all, is the LA Times reporting from Florida ... all about how rank & file Republicans are feeling, "Long Time Republicans Are Airing New Views."