There's been a flood of Republican endorsements of Barack Obama in recent days, the most notable of which were Colin Powell and Ken "cakewalk" Adelman, but now those have been followed in quick succession by former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan, former MA Governor William Weld, former MN Governor Arne Carlson, Barry Goldwater's granddaughter CC Goldwater and, today, perhaps most dramatically of all, Charles Fried...one of McCain's top...former...advisors.

Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, has long been one of the most important conservative thinkers in the United States. Under President Reagan, he served, with great distinction, as Solicitor General of the United States. Since then, he has been prominently associated with several Republican leaders and candidates, most recently John McCain, for whom he expressed his enthusiastic support in January.

This week, Fried announced that he has voted for Obama-Biden by absentee ballot. In his letter to Trevor Potter, the General Counsel to the McCain-Palin campaign, he asked that his name be removed from the several campaign-related committees on which he serves. In that letter, he said that chief among the reasons for his decision "is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis."

We are seeing a similar phenomenon among newspaper endorsements. DemConWatch alerts us to the impending endorsement of The Hartford Courant, no liberal rag they:

The endorsement, to be printed in Sunday's newspaper and released on courant.com at 5 p.m. Saturday, cites Obama's leadership qualities, his can-do message and his calm temperament.

The Courant, the nation's oldest continuously published newspaper, endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination in this year's presidential primaries. Bill Clinton is the only Democrat whom the The Courant had previously endorsed for president, in 1992 and 1996, but the editorial board later called for Clinton's resignation after the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

With 11 days left until the election, Obama is dominating the daily newspaper endorsement race 134-52 (representing a daily circulation of 15 million vs. 4.1 million.) Notably, Obama is also dominating McCain among newspapers that endorsed the candidate of the opposite party in 2004. DemConWatch has that tally at Obama winning 29 Bush endorsers vs. McCain winning just 4 Kerry endorsers.

This trend of Republicans embracing Barack Obama fulfills one of the promises of Obama's candidacy -- that he would unite both parties, that he would draw significant cross-party support -- one that I was not convinced would come to fruition yet one that I am thrilled to see is. An added bonus is that it really undermines John McCain's claim that he has the monopoly on consensus building.

There's more...

I have waited a full week to introduce myself. I'm a Republican from VA who is voting for Barack Obama in 2008, the first time that I am voting for a Democratic Presidential candidate.  I cast my first Presidential vote for George HW Bush in 1988 and again in 1992, Dole in 1996, and George W. Bush in 2000. In 2004, I was disillusioned with the Republican party, but could not bring myself to vote John Kerry, who I perceived as weak.  I come from an area near Farmville, VA and if you google it, you will know it is one of the main areas of the moral-majority.

I have a history of voting with the Democratic Party though, I voted for Mark Warner, and more recently, I voted for Jim Webb.  In the case of Jim Webb, I even made donations (as I have with Barack Obama).

I found Mydd on Feb 5th after looking at the Drudge Report for early exit-polls on the day, a link brought me to this site.  I liked mydd because there was an open debate at that time between Obama and Hillary.  I was paying attention to this race because I knew that if somehow Obama kept it close, I would go vote for him in the VA primary, and if it were over, I'd go back to where I currently reside in Asia.... being that Obama kept it close, I extended my trip back home, and made my vote for Obama.

There's more...

Colin Powell was the man many Republicans wanted to see run for President in 1996. Now, however, he may soon endorse Democratic nominee Barack Obama? Bill Kristol, whom I do not believe I have ever cited in my close to three years as an editor on this site, says a Powell endorsement is indeed in the works.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell will endorse Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, Weekly Standard Publisher Bill Kristol told FOX News exclusively on Thursday.

"He may well give a speech at the Democratic convention explaining his endorsement of Obama," Kristol said, citing inside sources. "For whatever reason I think he has decided he's going to endorse Obama. I think [Powell] has a high respect for Senator McCain, they go back a long way."

Kristol continued, "This is not an absolute done deal, but these people are very confident that Powell will endorse Obama."

Kristol said sources told him Powell will "quite possibly" speak at the Democratic convention on the same night as Obama's vice-presidential selection and former President Bill Clinton.

"The Obama people are quietly trying to line up a pretty strong convention," Kristol said. "I think the Obama campaign shouldn't be underestimated. Obviously anyone would like to have Powell's endorsement."

For what it's worth, Kristol is about as far from a straight ahead reporter as they come, and just about everything he writes comes from a partisan Republican perspective. What's more, Powell's spokesman is emphatically denying that Powell will be at either party's convention in the coming weeks. That said, and even considering that Powell's stature was greatly diminished as a result of his help in the Bush administration's push for war with Iraq in 2002 and 2003, a Powell endorsement of Obama would be fairly big news and would go a long way towards reinforcing the notion that Obama is the type of leader who could transcend traditional political and partisan divides in the country.

There's more...

Back in February, former liberal Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee endorsed Barack Obama for President -- a story that garnered a bit of media attention, though certainly not as much as the ongoing saga of Joe Lieberman's political relationship with John McCain. Today brings news that former Iowa Republican Congressman Jim Leach, who like Chafee voted against the Iraq War and who was generally left of center on a number of issues (though was a reliable vote for his party on the organization of the House), is joining the chorus of Republicans for Obama.

According to a source in the Obama campaign, former Iowa Congressman Jim Leach -- a Republican -- will be endorsing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama this morning.  Leach, as you may recall, lost his bid for re-election in 2006 after three decades representing portions of eastern Iowa in congress.  Leach was considered a "moderate" Republican and was a backer of campaign finance reform.  Leach did not accept campaign contributions from political action committees.

Leach isn't the only GOPer to add his name to the effort.

Republican Mayor Jim Whitaker [of Fairbanks, Alaska] has said he is endorsing Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

"My goal is to let Republicans have a clear understanding that their right to vote should not be restricted by any party affiliation," the borough mayor said. He said the economic and political challenges facing the state and country are broader than political parties alone can address and suggested Republicans should consider crossing party lines by focusing on the strongest candidate this year.

Here's The Times on the broader effort:

Led by a former Bush fund-raiser and a former U.S. Senator who bolted the G.O.P. several years ago, a group of current and former Republicans disenchanted with Senator John McCain and supportive of Senator Barack Obama are banding together to start a "Republicans for Obama" effort.

Rita Hauser, a New York philanthropist who raised money for both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, is helping to organize the push to draw Republicans away from Mr. McCain and will serve as a spokeswoman for the group, alongside former U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee, of Rhode Island, who was one of the most moderate Republicans in the Senate and became an independent after he lost his seat in 2006.

Now I'm not sure that The Times knows the definition of the word "several," because someone who left the Republican Party less than two years ago did not leave the party "several years ago," but the article does underscore one of the aspects of the Obama candidacy that drew so many to him: His ability to transcend some of the political fissures in the country today and redraw the map. While Obama may be weaker among some segments of the Democratic Party than other previous Democratic nominees, he is clearly stronger in others. The fact that Obama is seriously competing not only for states like Virginia and Colorado but even Alaska and North Dakota is a real testament to this, as is this latest news story.

He's not there yet, because top-level endorsements do not assure the support of everyday voters. But at the same time none of this can really hurt Obama -- particularly in Alaska or Iowa, where two of the latest endorsements emerged from.

There's more...

Republicans for Obama will pull the Democratic leadership EVEN FURTHER TO THE RIGHT.  That's not what I want, and maybe not what you want, either.

Texas Republicans cross over to vote for Obama
A poll released this week by SurveyUSA of Verona, N.J., indicated that registered Republicans would make up 9 percent of Democratic primary voters next week. Michael Baselice, head of Baselice and Associates, a Texas polling firm, said that was in line with what his company was finding. A bloc that large could make a significant difference for Obama, who holds a large lead over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York among Texas Republicans, especially in a close race. Polls this week were showing a dead heat in Texas as Obama began pulling even with Clinton.

MORE MORE MORE

There's more...