The campaigns for Democrats Barack Obama and Rep. Mark Udall on Wednesday showcased Republicans who they say are going to be crossing party lines this fall.
The GOP trio that endorsed Obama is made up of Jan Martin, a Colorado Springs City Councilwoman; Mary Davies, former chairwoman of Colorado Women for George H.W. Bush; and Joe Carlson , a retired business owner from Monument.
Martin, a self-described lifelong Republican, said the GOP had abandoned fiscal discipline, and only Obama could help restore the United States as a respected leader around the world.
“I’m supporting Sen. Obama because I believe he’s the candidate who can bring the country back together,” Martin said. “My country means more to me than a political party.”
Dick Wadhams , chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, dismissed the three Obama supporters as not true Republicans.
“If I went down to the county clerk’s office tomorrow and switched my registration to Democrat, that would not make me a Democrat,” Wadhams said. “The fact is these folks ought to have the intellectual honesty and just go ahead and switch parties and quit being props for Democrats.”
Udall, who faces former GOP Congressman Bob Schaffer in the race for Colorado’s open senate seat, rolled out Republican supporters of his own Wednesday. It was the beginning of what aides say will be a larger effort this fall to take advantage of dissatisfaction by some GOP moderates with Udall’s opponent.
Former state Rep. Bill Kaufman, who served with Udall in the Colorado legislature, praised the Democrat’s bipartisanship, contrasting it to excerpts he read from Schaffer’s Congressional website.
“He wrote the following: ‘Republicans defend gun rights; Democrats point guns at six-year-old Cuban kids. Republicans defend religious freedom; Democrats incinerate religious zealots and their children,'” Kaufman said.
“I don’t think you can talk like that about the opposition party and have any ability whatsoever to work with them,” said Kaufman, a former party stalwart who noted he was also planning on voting for Obama and Betsy Markey, the Democrat challenging incumbent Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan, in the 4th Congressional District.
Kaufman, his brother Dick, and former GOP Congressman Jim Johnson, who spoke during a conference call with reporters, also endorsed Democrat Bill Ritter when he ran for governor two years ago, a fact not lost on Wadhams.
“Every two years, these guys are going to prop themselves up as alleged Republicans for whatever Democrat is running,” said Wadhams, who also works as Schaffer’s campaign manager. “This is just a joke and is getting kind of pathetic.”
Democrats say other Republicans who have signed on to support Udall include Dave Wattenberg, a former state senator, Greg Stevinson, a Jefferson County businessman whose family runs a metro-area car dealership, and John Gart, whose family once owned Gart Brothers, the sporting goods company.
