McCain ad trumpets support of ex-Clinton backer from Wisconsin
DENVER -- New York Sen. Hillary Clinton will release her delegates on Wednesday, and most of them will become delegates for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, with varying levels of enthusiasm.
But one Clinton delegate -- or, to be more precise, one former Clinton delegate -- will be voting for Republican John McCain in November.
And the McCain campaign is touting the decision of Debra Bartoshevich, an ousted Wisconsin delegate, to jump across the partisan line.
A new McCain advertisement, coming just after one that highlights Clinton's primary season criticisms of Obama, features Bartoshevich.
Here's the script of the 30-second ad, which will air in battleground states -- including, presumably, Wisconsin:
DEBRA BARTOSHEVICH: I'm a proud Hillary Clinton Democrat.
She had the experience and judgment to be president.
Now, in a first for me, I'm supporting a Republican, John McCain.
I respect his maverick and independent streak, and now he's the one with the experience and judgment.
A lot of Democrats will vote McCain. It's OK, really!
JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain, and I approved this message.
The Wisconsin Democratic Party's administrative committee voted to dismiss Bartoshevich as a delegate in July.
Since then, she has held a high-profile party at her home in the southeastern Wisconsin's village of Waterford to rally support for McCain. McCain's wife Cindy, campaign adviser Charlie Black and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani all called in to talk to the 30 people who attended.
McCain has met with Bartoshevich and her family during a Wisconsin campaign swing.
A new CNN poll shows that 27 percent of Clinton backers will support McCain.
And Bartoshevich is becoming their spokesperson.
She'll be in Denver -- not in the convention hall but, undoubtedly, wherever a media camera is turned on.
And in case anyone misses her, the McCain campaign will be making sure everyone hears her complaint -- and her endorsement of the Republican.
Mary Altaffer/Associated Press
Republican presidential candidate John McCain (center) and his wife Cindy (second from left) have coffee with Debra Bartoshevich (left), her daughter Mariah and her father Gene Brittain in Racine in July.
