Ike's Granddaughter Bolts GOP: An Eisenhower Who Likes Obama

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Lifelong GOP voter Susan Eisenhower tells the San Francisco Chronicle that she's crossing party lines to support Democrat Barack Obama this November: "The war issue is a strong one . . . as lower-income, middle-American families are taking a disproportionate share of the burden . . . It really touches the lives of women who are left behind while their husbands are deployed overseas and families have lost a loved one." Eisenhower's comments appeared in a news story about GOP presidential candidate John McCain's efforts to attract women voters, a key bloc seen as in play after Obama's defeat of Hillary Clinton in the Dem nomination contest. But the story suggests McCain's efforts are failing, and that women are breaking for Obama. Eisenhower says Obama has shown more understanding about the issues that effect women. Her grandfather, Dwight D. Eisenhower, headed the Allied armies in Europe that defeated Hitler's forces on the Western front in World War II. President Eisenhower, a Republican, served two terms in the White House from 1953 until 1961.