OBAMA-CANS UNITE

Obama-cans Unite
By Michael Luo

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.

Ms. Hauser served as a finance chairwoman in New York for George W. Bush in 2000 and was a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board during his first term, but she endorsed Senator John F. Kerry in 2004, because of her opposition to the Iraq War.Ms. Hauser said she was motivated to support the presumed Democratic nominee, Mr. Obama, again by her feelings on Iraq. But she said others in the group were driven by other issues.

About 20 current and former Republicans make up the group’s leadership committee, including Douglas Kmiec, a Republican who served in the Justice Department under President Ronald Reagan and was a supporter of Mitt Romney during the Republican primary, and Dorothy Danforth Burlin, a Washington lawyer who is the daughter of former U.S. Senator John Danforth, another moderate Republican.

The group plans to unveil a Web site this week that will include a chat room and the ability for others to sign onto their cause.