Ken Duberstein, President Ronald Reagan’s Chief of Staff, has crossed the aisle and endorsed Barack Obama. He also strongly criticized John McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin:
Says former Reagan Chief of Staff and longtime GOP insider Ken Duberstein of John McCain’s VP selection: "Even at McDonalds, you’re interviewed three times before you’re given a job."
It appears that the Palin pick is the "permission" that many Republicans have needed to support Barack Obama. John McCain went for a culture war at the expense of judgment and experience with his Palin pick, and with his pick he lost independents and non-culture warrior Republicans.
Do not underestimate the significance of Ken Duberstein’s endorsement. It is not that a Duberstein endorsement will move votes, it likely will not. But this endorsement represents a more general trend amongst Republicans. There are many Duberstein type Republicans in Northern Virginia, as well as elsewhere, that represent the non-culture warrior wing of the Republican Party. I would expect a fair number of these Republicans to come out and vote for Barack Obama next Tuesday. If that happens, we are likely to see Obama doing better than the 60% he needs in Northern Virginia to carry the state.
If a number of traditional red states flip to Barack Obama next Tuesday, we will look back at John McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin as a major contributing factor.
