Jonathan D. Salant, Bloomberg
- Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, picked up the endorsement today of former Republican Representative Jim Leach of Iowa, an important state in the general election.
“I also have no doubt that a lot of Republicans and independents are going to be attracted to his call for a new era of non-ideological, bipartisan decision-making,” Leach, a former chairman of the House Banking Committee, said on a conference call with reporters.
Iowa voters backed Democrat Al Gore in 2000, Republican George W. Bush in 2004, and the state is up for grabs again this year. Between June 3 and July 26, Republican presidential candidate John McCain spent $946,000 on television ads in the state, and Obama spent $700,000, according to a study by the University of Wisconsin.
Also on the conference call to announce Republicans for Obama was former U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.
Leach and Chafee lost their seats in 2006 as the Democrats recaptured control of both houses of Congress.
