"It’s been a very difficult thing for me because I’ve never endorsed a Democrat before…but sometimes in life you come to a juncture where it’s very clear the national interest trumps party discipline," former Iowa Congressman Jim Leach said in a noontime interview with Radio Iowa.  Read more below.

Two updates below provide links to audio of Leach talking about his decision.

Former Iowa Congressman Jim Leach — a Republican — endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama this morning.  Leach, as you may recall, lost his bid for re-election in 2006 after three decades representing portions of eastern Iowa in congress.  Leach was considered a "moderate" Republican and was a backer of campaign finance reform.  Leach did not accept campaign contributions from political action committees. 

Leach became a professor at his alma mater — Princeton — and then was asked to be the interim director of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government when its director left to run for the U.S. Senate. The institute’s new director is to start September 1, 2008 and Leach will return to Princeton for the fall semester. Leach’s wife has contributed the maximum amount allowed to Obama’s campaign.

Of additional note:  Leach shared an office with Dick Cheney when Cheney — and Leach — worked for Donald Rumsfeld in D.C.  decades ago.   Cheney spoke at a campaign fundraiser for Leach in Cedar Rapids in 2003.  Here’s the pertinent part:  "I appreciate your warm welcome. But I am especially pleased to be here today with Jim, because Jim and I have been friends for many, many years. Lynne and I have known Jim and Deba longer than we can count. Jim and I first got to know each other more than 30 years ago — I guess it was 1969 — when we both went to work for a young, up and comer then, a budding politician. Jim had already worked for him when he was in the House of Representatives. He was in his mid-30s. His name was Don Rumsfeld. And he was no longer a congressman from Illinois; he was running the Office of Economic Opportunity. And Jim and I went to work for him in the executive branch some 34, almost 35 years ago.

"Subsequent to that, of course, Jim had important assignments at the State Department, the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. I went to work for President Ford. Eventually, in 1976, Jim got elected to the House of Representatives. In 1978, I got elected to the House of Representatives. My state of Wyoming was a little bit different than Iowa in the sense that we only had one congressman for the entire state. It was a small delegation. (Laughter.) But it was quality. (Laughter.)

"But, so I followed Jim by two years in the House, but one of the great privileges in the House are the friendships and the relationships that deepen as a result of your time there, and I had the great privilege of serving for ten years with Jim. And it has subsequently, obviously, been a great pleasure now to return to government, and one of the nice things about going back after I thought I’d finished my career in politics and planned to enjoy private life, to return back to Washington with the President and become part of his administration has been the privilege of renewing a lot of those old friendships and relationships with men and women that I had worked with previously, and now we’ve gotten back together again. And I think of people like Jim that I worked with in the Congress, and Don Rumsfeld is back at Defense. He hasn’t made any progress at all in about 30 years — same old job. (Laughter.) Colin Powell at the State Department, et cetera."

UPDATE:  Radio Iowa story, with Leach comments.  Includes 3 1/2 minutes MP3 file with Leach’s comments at the beginning of a conference call arranged by the Obama campaign.

UPDATE II: Radio Iowa interview with Leach (7 min MP3)

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