Fairbanks GOP Mayor Endorses Obama

[Blue_In_AK]

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/492122.html

Whitaker impressed with energy policy of Democrat.

By STEVE QUINN
The Associated Press

JUNEAU -- In this staunchly Republican state, the Fairbanks North Star Borough mayor has broken party ranks and publicly endorsed presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Mayor Jim Whitaker said he is not rescinding his party affiliation, just backing the person he believes is best suited for the job.

"Our nation is in need of leadership the country as a whole can believe in," Whitaker said.

He described Obama as a "man of significant and promising judgment. I think we need that at this time."

<snip>

"If we are as a nation concerned with energy, then our consideration should be a national energy policy that is not predicated on crude oil 50 years into the future," Whitaker said. "We need to get to it, and I think Barack Obama is very clear in that regard."

In a prepared statement, Obama said he was grateful for the support, especially from a region where the cost of heating fuel more has than doubled in the last four years.

"Fairbanks residents are paying some of the highest energy prices in the country," Obama said. "Mayor Whitaker knows firsthand the importance of solving our energy crisis."

Whitaker once supported McCain, in the 2000 primary, but McCain's support for the war in Iraq changed that.

<snip>

The last time Alaska voted for a Democrat for president was Lyndon Johnson in 1964.