WASHINGTON, August 12, 2008 (AFP) - 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.

'Across the country Democrats, independents, and Republicans are coming together in support of Senator Obama to bring change to Washington,' the Illinois politician's campaign said.

'Obama has a strong record of bringing people together from the left and the right to solve problems, leading with superior judgment on foreign policy issues, and demonstrating fiscal responsibility,' it said.

Both Leach and Chaffee were liberal Republicans in Congress and the Rhode Island senator bolted his party to become an independent after he lost his seat in the 2006 elections.

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.

The officials are all 'crossing the divide of old politics to support Barack Obama for president,' the Democrat's campaign said.

McCain has already been courting conservative Democrats and counts as one of his highest-profile supporters Senator Joseph Lieberman, the Democrats' vice presidential nominee in 2000.

Lieberman, a national security hawk who bitterly opposes Obama's plans to pull out of Iraq, now sits in the Senate as an 'independent Democrat.'