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John Martin just got back from serving a tour with the Navy Reserves in Afghanistan. Entering his third year at St. John’s Law School, this National Review reader, former Rush Limbaugh devotee and son of a cop has resumed his volunteer duties as the founder of RepublicansforObama.org.

“What do I like about Obama? He’s not divisive,” said Martin. “He reaches across the aisle. He’s a smart guy, a young guy — someone I can identify with. I’m not happy at all with the Republicans. Our party has chosen to be divisive and demonize the Democrats rather than meeting our nation’s challenges. … Our party had control of Congress and the White House, and we dropped the ball.”

When a campaign becomes a crusade, crossover votes such as Martin’s are a key to victory. In the past, we have seen Eisenhower Democrats and Reagan Democrats, even Republicans for Bill Clinton in 1992. This year, two new terms are entering the political lexicon: Obamacans and McCainocrats. They testify to the way old labels are giving way to new evolutions as the political map edges toward realignment.

A new Gallup poll shows that nearly one-in-four U.S. voters is now a “swing voter” — a higher percentage than at any time in the polarizing 2004 election. Barack Obama and John McCain are each appealing to around 10 percent of the other party’s voters, according to a June Fox/Opinion Dynamics poll.

Martin’s feeling confident: “When it comes to McCain Democrats, they’re not as motivated as we are.”

There are two main strains to the Obamacan phenomenon: people who are inspired by Obama’s post-partisanship, and those who want a complete blood transfusion for the GOP brand after the days of President Bush, Karl Rove and Tom DeLay.

Lifelong Nebraska Republican David Sayers describes it this way: “The Republican Party has lost its soul. It’s no longer the party of Goldwater. For years, it was about small government, low taxes, fiscal responsibility. Foreign policy was always about, ‘Look after ourselves first and humanitarian outreach second,’ but it was never about having our own Roman Empire. … I see Obama as the Democratic Ronald Reagan — someone who can really bring us together and heal us as a nation. … In the long term, a catastrophic loss in November could be very good for the party.”

This is not a fringe festival — Republicans who now support Obama count among their ranks Ike’s granddaughter Susan Eisenhower; Milton Friedman’s son, David; former Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.); conservative legal scholar Douglas Kmeic; and Reagan’s assistant secretary of defense, Lawrence J. Korb.

Despite all the defections, McCain is the strongest candidate Republicans could hope for this year. The man is a walking profile in courage, the antidote to everything Tom DeLay stood for. In the past, he’s been almost as popular among Democrats as he has among Republicans, and in 2006 he won reelection by 77 percent. McCain is polling ahead of the Republican brand because of his principled independence, not in spite of it.

A McCainocrat movement of national security hawks should be the GOP’s secret weapon in this election. The McCain campaign website puts forward a group called Citizens for McCain, featuring a testimonial from Independent-Democratic Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman — the original McCainocrat, whose endorsement in New Hampshire helped spur the Lazarus-like McCain resurgence. According to the site, the group is “for people who put country before political party and support the candidate for president who has a proven record of bipartisanship.” Bill Clinton CIA Director Jim Woolsey and the recently realigned Hillary Rodham Clinton delegate Deb Bartoshevich fit this mold.

But to a troubling extent, the grass-roots McCain Democrat websites are more anti-Obama than pro-McCain. Soon after the fall of Hillary Clinton, a posting to the Centrist Coalition site announced the formation of a new McCainocrat group, explaining, “We feel more comfortable with a moderate Republican who has the mutual respect of Billary, Joe Lieberman and other Liberal-Centrists. … McCain is a national hero with a wealth of domestic and international experience. While we may not agree with all of his positions, we see him as a safer choice than Obama, with his radical lefty following.”

A glance at the website in question — hillarynowformccain.com — reveals the slogan “Hillary Voters for McCain Not Hussein” and offers a doctored photograph of Obama as Osama bin Laden in front of the White House with the caption “So America: You want change? Just wait.”

Elsewhere there are the PUMAs — Party Unity My Ass — while the Leftist Lesbian Atheist for McCain blog rails on “Obamabots.” These sites offer a hothouse of Internet intensity, while the comparatively bland McCainocrat.com boasts just 822 visitors.

These flashes of anger distracts from the larger fact that both Obama and McCain defined their candidacies early around ending hyperpartisanship in Washington. That’s at the heart of their ability to appeal across the aisle. This election offers a healthy competition for votes in the center of the political spectrum, a rare opportunity for Americans to choose the candidate they like best, not the candidate they dislike least. The winner will give crossover voters something to vote for — rather than just someone to vote against.

John P. Avlon is the author of “Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics.” He served as chief speechwriter and deputy policy director for Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign.

Source: Politico