Texas Republicans cross over to vote for Obama

True support combines with stop-Clinton sentiment in next week’s primary

By Alex Johnson
Reporter
MSNBC
updated 7:01 p.m. ET, Thurs., Feb. 28, 2008

One of Sen. Barack Obama’s surest applause lines comes about halfway into his standard stump speech. It goes like this:

“They whisper to me. They say, ‘Barack, I’m a Republican, but I support you.’ And I say, ‘Thank you. Why are we whispering?’â€