The wife of Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel is endorsing Democrat Barack Obama.
Lilibet Hagel told The Associated Press that she decided to endorse a Democrat for the first time, partly because of the wars in Iraq and Afgahanastan, the rising national debt and the country's biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Hagel said her decision was not meant as a slam against Republican nominee John McCain.
She also said her decision was independent of her husband, a Nebraska Republican. She says she didn't know whether he will make an endorsement or who he would support.
Though the Hagels vote in Nebraska, they have lived in Washington's Virginia suburbs since 1996.
Chuck Hagel, a moderate Republican and Vietnam veteran, has been a fierce critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policies.
