A Republican businessman from the town of Scapoose in northern Oregon is running an unorthodox campaign for Congress: He’s publicly backing Democrat Barack Obama for president as well as Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Merkley. “I’m sure I’ve been branded by the GOP base as some sort of heretic,” says Joel Haugen. “He’s got that right,” reports The AP. But Haugen insists he represents fiscal conservatism and other traditional Republican values: “The whole anti-abortion, anti-gay focus seems to be the litmus test for Republicanism these days. I don’t think that’s good for the party, and I don’t think that’s good for the country.”
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