Barack Obama's campaign announced Tuesday the launch of "Republicans for Obama," venturing deep onto rival White House contender John McCain's turf to woo disenchanted conservatives.

The Democrat's campaign said the group was being spearheaded by former lawmaker Jim Leach of Iowa, former Rhode Island senator Lincoln Chaffee, and Rita Hauser, who was a prominent fundraiser for President George W. Bush. The renegade Republicans are all "crossing the divide of old politics to support Barack Obama for president," the Democrat's campaign said in a statement.

"I have no doubt that his is the leadership we need and that the world is crying out for," Leach told reporters in reference to Obama.

Hauser is a New York philanthropist who was a financial backer for Bush in 2000 and served as a White House intelligence adviser, but then endorsed Democrat John Kerry in 2004 owing to her opposition to the Iraq war.

"It's difficult to walk away from your party's nominee but you have to put your country first," she said, adding that Obama appeals to "millions of Republicans and former Republicans."

But McCain for his part counts as one of his highest-profile supporters Senator Joseph Lieberman, the Democrats' vice presidential nominee in 2000.

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