Jim Leach's Wife Donates $1000 To Obama

Jim Leach's Wife Donates $1000 To Obama

Elisabeth Leach, wife of former Iowa Republican Congressman Jim Leach, donated $1,000 to Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign on June 30, the quarterly reporting deadline.

Elisabeth Leach listed her occupation as art historian and author on the Federal Election Commission campaign finance report. Her works include Grant Wood: The Artist in the Hayloft, published in 2004.

The June donation was Elisabeth Leach's second donation of at least $250 to Obama. She also donated $250 on March 24.

Jim Leach was considered the most moderate Republican in Congress during much of his 30-year tenure. He lost his seat to Democrat Dave Loebsack in one of 2006's biggest upsets. Since his defeat, Jim Leach has been a visiting professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Government at his alma mater, Princeton, and at the John. F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

The Leachs maintain their permanent address and voter registration in rural Iowa City, where they moved after the 2001 redistricting. Both remain registered Republicans. Elisabeth Leach's June donation lists this Iowa address. The March donation lists the suburban Maryland address where the Leachs stayed while Jim Leach was in Congress.

Jim Leach specifically declined to endorse any Republican (or, for that matter, Democratic) presidential candidate during a November interview with Iowa Independent. At that time, he said of Obama:

“I think the Democratic Party, based on where I feel the issues are, would be wiser to lean towards Barack Obama vis-à-vis Hillary (Clinton). I think Barack has a greater chance, and I think it was put very well by Ted Sorenson who is a great friend of mine, has a greater chance of kind of reflecting a new Camelot, a John F. Kennedy mode, than perhaps the other Democratic candidates.”

FEC records do not show any donations of $250 or more by Jim Leach to any candidates for any federal office.