Earlier today, I attended a press conference held by Carly Fiorina to introduce the Citizens for McCain Coalition, a group of Democrats and independents who plan to vote for John McCain in November. Six prominent Democrats joined Fiorina for the conference, including a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, two elected Democrats, and a former Clinton-era ambassador to OPEC. One by one, they explained how the campaign of Barack Obama disillusioned them and drove them to support McCain.

• Ambassador Mark Erwin
• John Coale, former fundraiser for both Clintons
• Silver Salazar, Hispanic community leader in Colorado
• Brian Golden, former state representative from Boston and an Iraq War veteran
• Jennifer Lee, a Hillary Clinton campaign worker from California
• Cynthia Ruccia, women’s rights activist and former Congressional candidate from Ohio.

This was an interesting concept, and it certainly could help the McCain campaign with centrists and independents, but the reasons these people have crossed the aisle won’t necessarily thrilll the base.  Most of them talked about the untested nature of Barack Obama, and how unhappy Coale, Lee, and Ruccia were specifically about the sexism of the Obama campaign and the Democrats in general.

While those topics won’t give the base any problems at all, the rest of the reasons might.  Most of them praised McCain’s moderation, and one or two specifically mentioned immigration as a reason. On the other hand, Ambassador Erwin gave a great response to my question at the end about foreign policy and how Obama is hopelessly naive.  It’ll make a great soundbite.

I’ll have all of the video posted as soon as I can find a reliable Internet connection to do the upload.  It may be later this evening, as the wireless has suddenly started grinding to a halt.

Update: Well, I’ve got Part 1 loaded: