http://registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=101469&sid=4&fid=2excerpt:
Presidential candidate Barack Obama is lining up support among some Eugene area veterans, including some former Republicans who switched parties to vote for him. Raymond Byrne, a former acting adjutant general in the Oregon National Guard, was in Eugene on Friday to meet with about a dozen veterans. They spent more than an hour talking about ways they can help spread the word about the candidate.
Also at the meeting was Jon Mangis, a former director of the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs, who said he switched parties to vote for Obama. Mangis said he wasn’t a “dyed-in-the-wool” Republican and never voted for either President Bush but said he changed his registration because he was inspired by the Illinois senator. “I thought it was important I vote for Obama,” he said. “He impresses me.”
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Washington resident Ryan Clark, a graduate student at the University of Oregon, said he is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican but is joining the new veterans group that supports Obama. “I think our country does need a change right now,” he said. “We need somebody to rally around.”
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Byrne, who retired from the National Guard about a month ago, acknowledged that most people in the military are conservative and noted he had met only one other registered Democrat while he was in the service. But he said getting veterans involved in the campaign will help show that Obama can appeal to a wide range of people. “If you can influence that group to talk to each other, maybe you can start change,” he said.
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