Cindy McCain's half-sis: I'm voting for Barack Obama
Thursday, August 28th 2008, 1:56 PM
Robbins/NPR Kathleen Hensley Portalski, half-sister of Cindy McCain, says she's voting for Obama this fall.
Osorio/AP John and Cindy McCain
John McCain just lost two votes to Barack Obama: Cindy McCain's half-sister and the woman's son.
"I'm not voting for McCain," Cindy McCain's half-sister, Kathleen Portalski, 65, told Usmagazine.com.
"I have a different political standpoint. I think (Obama's) proposals to improve the country are more positive and I'm not a big war believer."
Portalski's son Nathan said he, too, is backing Obama. And with him it's not just politics - it's personal.
"I wouldn't vote for John McCain if he was a Democrat," he told Us. "I would not vote at all before I'd vote for him."
Nathan Portalski, 45, also doubted Cindy McCain would be a good First Lady.
"I question whether Cindy is someone I'd want to see in the White House," he said.
"She's kinda cool, standoffish," added his mom, who, like her son, lives in Phoenix.
The Portalskis and the McCains have long been on the outs, but Cindy McCain's claims to be the "only child" of Arizona beer baron Jim Hensley has touched off a fresh family feud.
Kathleen Hensley was born to Jim and Mary Jeanne Hensley in 1943. Her parents divorced in 1945, after her dad returned from World War II.
Jim Hensley went on to marry Marguerite Smith, who already had a daughter, Dixie. Cindy Hensley was born in 1954.
In a statement, the McCain campaign said Cindy McCain was raised as "the only child" and "had no family relationship with any other sibling."
Nicholas Portalski told the Daily News that was not true.
"The fact is my mother and Cindy had lots of contact" over the years, he said. "Cindy continues to make the point that she's an only child and my mother has to relive it."
Portalski told The News she saw her dad " a few times a year."
"I saw him at Christmas and birthdays, and he provided money for school clothes, and he called occasionally," she said.
The last time the Portalskis saw Cindy McCain was at Jim Hensley's funeral in 2000. They haven't spoken since.
The Portalskis got $10,000 from Hensley's will. Cindy got the beer distributorship that anchors the family's fortune, which is estimated at more than $100 million.
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