Republicans For Hillary! For a Day, Anyway

Bringing the country together. That's the goal of every presidential candidate. But it's one thing to unite a party and lure Independent voters to your cause, and quite another to siphon support from the opposing party. While initial primary results indicated that Barack Obama appealed to more Republican voters than their arch nemesis, Hillary Clinton, recent voting trends show a sharp turnaround in Hillary's favor among the GOP's traditionally faithful. From the Boston Globe:

For a party that loves to hate the Clintons, Republican voters have cast an awful lot of ballots lately for Senator Hillary Clinton: About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for her in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and 38,000 in Mississippi, exit polls show.

A sudden change of heart? Hardly.

Since Senator John McCain effectively sewed up the GOP nomination last month, Republicans have begun participating in Democratic primaries specifically to vote for Clinton, a tactic that some voters and local Republican activists think will help their party in November.

Of course the most vocal proponent of this strategy is none other than Rush Limbaugh, who mounted the Texas drive to sink Obama, and who continues to wallow in what our friends in Germany term schadenfreude, or, happiness found in the misery of others.

"I want our party to win. I want the Democrats to lose," Limbaugh said. "They're in the midst of tearing themselves apart right now. It's fascinating to watch. And it's all going to stop if Hillary loses."

In case you were curious, Clinton won the popular vote in Texas by 98,223. That's within the Ditto-head margin of error. Ohio, on the other hand, went to Clinton by some 227,556 votes, far more than the 100,000 Republicans who were looking to have some fun. In a close race for delegates, however, those extra votes could be significant. In Mississippi, too, Obama might have been counting still more delegate beans were it not for the fact that Republicans went for Hillary in a 3 to 1 margin in accordance with Limbaugh's marching orders.

CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Consider this: up until recently, Obama was getting a lot more support than Clinton was from Republicans in the primary contests. At the time, many traditional GOP voters said they liked Obama and were willing to cross party lines. But, once McCain sealed the deal with his party's nomination, things started to change.

That's the illusory quality of Clinton's Republican "support." They don't really want her as president. They just want blood. Happy times!