Republican Switchers

Endorsements as of 10/30: Kerry leads 186 to 151, including 42 Switcher papers (compared to Bush's 6).

In its daily tally, Editor & Publisher reports that "Kerry also holds a wide lead in circulation of supporting papers, by about 19 million to almost 13 million." You you will find links to some of the other Switcher papers at Dkosopedia . (The most current list of Switcher papers can be found at the Editor and Publisher link, above. Look for all the Kerry endorsements marked with a B, denoting that they endorsed Bush in 2000 before switching to Kerry in 2004.)

CO: Daily Camera (Boulder): 10/17

CT: The Day (New London): 9/26

FL: Bradenton Herald: 10/18

FL: The Orlando Sentinel: 10/24

GA: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution : 10/9
(In 2000, The Atlanta Journal endorsed Bush; the Constitution endorsed Gore.)

IL: Chicago Sun-Times: 10/24

IL: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights): 10/17

ME: Bangor Daily News: 10/23

MI: Flint Journal: 10/24

MI: The Muskegon Chronicle: 10/17

MO: Columbia Daily Tribune: 10/17

NM: The Albuquerque Tribune: 10/12

OR: The Oregonian (Portland): 10/10

TX: The Lone Star Iconoclast (Crawford): 9/26

WA: Seattle Post-Intelligencer: 10/10

WA: The Seattle Times: 9/9

WI: Wausau Daily Herald: 10/23

Editor of the American Conservative endorses Kerry.

"George W. Bush has come to embody a politics that is antithetical to almost any kind of thoughtful conservatism, " says Scott McConnell. Read more here.

Quick list of Republican Switchers for Kerry

As Kerry gains more momentum, and as more people discover this blog, many kind readers are sending ideas for entries--more than I have time to post as a mom with full-time employment outside the home. Thankfully, Dkospedia has a an entire section listing and linking to conservatives and Republicans supporting Kerry. Dkosopedia is a Wiki published by Daily Kos. This is a great example of how, as a group effort, a Wiki can be a very efficient way to collect and share knowledge. Brilliant!

Swing State Switchers: In Arizona, Republican officials cross over; in Colorado, a Halliburton (yes, that Halliburton) seems likely to vote for Kerry.

Please send a link to this story to every moderate you know in Arizona and Colorado, two key battleground states, and ask them to pass it on to other moderates.
In this fascinating story from the Guardian newspaper in Britain, three strong Republican women protest Bush's policies toward women. Two -- Linda Binder, a Republican State Senator, and Judith Allen, a lifelong Republican and former Superior Court clerk -- are from Arizona. Mary Lou Halliburton, a Colorado Republican, is a retired lawyer who worked in the Nixon White House. Her family founded the company that Dick Cheney headed. So frustrated was she that she started a group called Republicans Who Want Their Party Back. According to the article, Halliburton won't say whom she is voting for but many think it will be Kerry.

And then there's Steve May, a Republican former state legislator from Arizona. A Kerry supporter, he says, "Contrary to the man he promised to be in 2000, he has become a fiscal liberal and a social conservative.....Those of us who care about the Republican Party must repudiate this administration and this campaign. Bush has not governed as a Republican should govern on issues of freedom, family and fiscal responsibility." Learn more here.

Former Bush-backer Iacocca will vote for Kerry: "We need a leader who is really dedicated to creating millions of high-paying jobs all across the country."

Business leader Lee Iacocca backed Bush in 2000 but he's "changing sides." CNN.com said that Iaccoca is "attracted to Kerry's economic plan, including his job creation proposals. He also said the presumptive Democratic nominee both understands change and will 'level' with the American people about how to adapt to that change."

Son of Republican President Eisenhower endorses Kerry; calls Bush's war moves "maverick": "Recent developments indicate that the current Republican Party leadership has confused confident leadership with hubris and arrogance."

The lifelong Republican son of Republican President Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower has left the Republican Party to become an Independent. Eisenhower is endorsing Kerry because of Bush's maverick decision to go to war and his fiscal irresponsibility. "Senator Kerry... is courageous, sober, competent, and concerned with fighting the dangers associated with the widening socio-economic gap in this country, " Eisenhower said.

Nation First, Party Second excerpts and links to many other Switchers not (yet) blurbed here.

Find more Switchers here, including a link to a long article in Esquire by Ron Reagan Jr., pictured here with his family. (Click to enlarge image.)

Former Repub. Gov. of Michigan will vote for Kerry: "The truth is that ... Bush does not speak for me or for many other moderate Republicans on a very broad cross section of issues."

This is a very powerful statement from William Milliken, Republican former Governor of Michigan (1969-83). An excerpt: "My Republican Party is the party of Gerald R. Ford, Michigan's only president, who reached across partisan lines to become a unifying force during a time of great turmoil in our nation's history. This president has pursued policies pandering to the extreme right wing across a wide variety of issues and has exacerbated the polarization and the strident, uncivil tone of much of what passes for political discourse in this country today."

Staunch conservative: "Bush has the most dangerously simplistic view of the world of any president in my memory."

Longtime, staunchly conservative columnist Charley Reese (just Google him) will vote for Kerry:"I will swallow a lot of petty policy differences...to get a man in the White House with brains enough not to blow up the world and us with it. Go to Kerry's Web site...You'll find that there is a great deal more to Kerry than the GOP attack dogs would have you believe."

Nixon EPA Chief will vote for Kerry: "It's almost as if the motto of the (Bush) administration...is...polluter protection."

In this story from CNN, Russell E. Train, who ran the Enviornmental Protection Agency under Presidents Nixon and Ford, "accused Bush of weakening the Clean Air Act and said the president's record falls short of those set by former Republican presidents, from Theodore Roosevelt, who advocated creating national parks and forests, to George H.W. Bush, who supported revised standards for clean air. " Train supported George W's father, George H. W. Bush in 1988. (Thanks to this blogger for linking to Republican Switchers and for the links to the Train and Anderson stories.)

Republican ex-gov: "Kerry has ... far superior intellect and character than Bush. He speaks honestly to the American people, his ethics are unimpeachable and, clearly...he has far better credentials..."

In this story from Minnesota, (registration required) former Governor Elmer L. Anderson (1961-63) explains his vote for Kerry: "As taxes for the wealthy are being cut, jobs are being outsourced if not lost and children are homeless and uninsured, this administration is running up the biggest deficit in U.S. history -- bound to be a terrible burden for future generations.

This imperialistic, stubborn adherence to wrongful policies and known untruths by the Cheney-Bush administration -- and that's the accurate order -- has simply become more than I can stand.

Although I am a longtime Republican, it is time to make a statement, and it is this: Vote for Kerry-Edwards, I implore you, on Nov. 2. "

Former Republican Congressman: "Ending secrecy and bringing truth and honesty back to the White House are reasons enough to elect Kerry and Edwards."

Former Congressman Pete McCloskey, a Republican, explains why he is voting for Kerry in a video clip from this Web site (Swift Boats and Swing Votes) and in this PDF of a recent column from the San Jose Mercury News. An excerpt from the 9/10/04 column: "In truth, John Kerry and John Edwards come far closer to the Republicanism of Teddy Roosevelt, Earl Warren, Barry Goldwater, George Bush the elder and, yes, even Richard Nixon, than does the present incumbent." (Thanks to Mainstreet Moms Oppose Bush at www.themmob.com for this PDF and for linking to "Republican Switchers" and other sites that will help you convince conservatives to vote for Kerry. Click on "links." Also, Mainstream Moms lists several "bite size" actions you can take to promote a Kerry presidency!)

Republican strategist: "(The Bushes) display no real empathy for anyone who is not of their class."

This article from The Washington Post (registration required) features another Kerry supporter, Kevin Phillips, a former Republican strategist who longs to go back the Republican party of Dwight Eisenhower. According to the article, Eisenhower "was a politician who embraced a top marginal tax rate of 90 percent, who warned of the abuses of the military-industrial complex and who -- in Phillips's telling -- had little use for the country club Republican set." Phillips is the author of one of the many popular books that are critical of Bush: American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush.