IMPEACH BUSH

Barack Obama has picked up another endorsement from a high-profile Republican as George Bush's former press secretary Scott McClellan announced he would vote for the Democrat.

McClellan made his declaration, which had been expected, during the taping of a CNN programme to be broadcast on Saturday.

"From the very beginning I've said I'm going to support the candidate who has the best chance of changing the way Washington works and getting things done," the former White House spokesman told presenter D L Hughley. "I will be voting for Barack Obama."

McClellan's endorsement comes days after another prominent Republican, the former secretary of state Colin Powell, announced his support for Obama.

McClellan's endorsement, however, lacked the stately tone of Powell's declaration. Appearing on comedian Hughley's first show, he was egged on to say something that would draw attention to the programme.

"We are a new show and your endorsement would probably mean a lot," Hughley said. "But don't look at the fact that I am black or, no pressure. Endorse somebody, damn it!"

McClellan came in for fierce criticism from the Bush administration and the Republican party after the publication in May of his candid memoir, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception.

In the book he admitted to being part of a group within the Bush administration that deliberately misled the American public in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Bush said he was saddened and surprised by the memoir, and McClellan was subsequently shunned by the administration and leading Republicans.

At the time, he hinted that he might endorse Obama. Saying that he respected the Republican nominee, John McCain, McClellan told one interviewer: "I also am intrigued by senator Obama's message. It's a message that is very similar to the one governor Bush ran on in 2000, and won on, promising to bring bi-partisanship and honesty and integrity to Washington."

McClellan began his stint as White House press secretary in July 2003 before resigning in April 2006.