Texas Republicans cross over to vote for Obama

[journalist3072]

Texas Republicans cross over to vote for Obama
True support combines with stop-Clinton sentiment in next week’s primary

By Alex Johnson
Reporter
MSNBC
updated 7:01 p.m. ET, Thurs., Feb. 28, 2008
One of Sen. Barack Obama’s surest applause lines comes about halfway into his standard stump speech. It goes like this:

“They whisper to me. They say, ‘Barack, I’m a Republican, but I support you.’ And I say, ‘Thank you. Why are we whispering?’”

-snip-

Stop-Clinton movement takes root
“Obamacans,” as the campaign likes to call its Republican supporters, offer a variety of reasons for turning out for Obama, not the least of them a lack of interest in the Republican primary now that Sen. John McCain of Arizona has all but wrapped up his party’s nomination. Others say they genuinely think Obama is the best candidate for change.

But a significant proportion say they are temporarily backing Obama for strategic reasons. They plan to vote Republican in November, but for now, their goal is to try to make sure Clinton cannot win.

Although he said he sincerely supported Obama, Rau acknowledged that “Hillary kind of represents the antithesis of a lot of Republican values.”

Baselice, the Texas pollster, said some Republicans were calculating: “What do we need to do to draw the contrast between the Republican nominee and whoever the Democratic nominee will be post-Labor Day?”

Which makes it impossible, he said, to know how much Republican support Obama actually enjoys.

“That’s the $64,000 question,” he said.


Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23394070/


So in other words....a bunch of GOPers are going to try to influence the Democratic race, all in the hopes of keeping Hillary Rodham Clinton out of the White House.

Their support of Obama is not about Obama...it's about Sen. Clinton.

I believe this is why the Democratic party needs to hold CLOSED primaries. I don't believe the Democratic Party should allow anyone except Democrats to vote in the primaries....otherwise, you end up with this.

And we all get screwed.