It's the Weld endorsement that's making news, but there's been another notable defection by a Massachusetts conservative: Charles Fried, a former Solicitor General under Ronald Reagan and one of Harvard Law School's most respected conservatives, says he's already voted for Obama via absentee ballot.

Fried is a conservative of a rather libertarian bent, who, despite his work for Reagan in support of that administration's anti-abortion policies, now defends Roe v. Wade.

I profiled him when his most recent book was published.

PS. It cannot be a good sign for McCain that in this Boston.com gallery, "Crossing Party Lines," the only person pictured who's crossing lines for McCain is Joe Lieberman. Everyone else is moving in the other direction. Charles Krauthammer somehow makes it into the gallery even though he's a diehard conservative backing -- McCain. In his column today for the Washington Post, Krauthammer condemns conservatives who are abandoning the ship.