As Obama Visits Missouri, Senate Candidate Heads To DC
In February, Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, the likely Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kit Bond, released a statement strongly criticizing the Obama administration's proposed budget. She called it disappointing, and said it was "time Washington started making fiscal discipline and tackling the long-term budget deficit higher priorities." The next day, her campaign actually highlighted a series of articles that cast her statement as showing independence from the White House.
Today, President Obama comes to Missouri to sell his health care plan, but Carnahan won't be there to welcome him. Coincidentally, as Obama heads west Carnahan has come east to Washington. Her campaign says she's there on long-scheduled official business, "meeting with financial regulators and policymakers to demand strong federal action to hold Wall Street bankers accountable and better protect consumers."
While in Missouri, Obama is also set to attend a fundraiser benefiting the Show Me State's junior senator Claire McCaskill, a fierce advocate for Obama during the 2008 campaign. The event will also benefit the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, and both the White House and Carnahan's camp says those funds will indirectly support Carnahan's campaign. But Republicans are looking painting a different picture, saying the White House has "written off the Carnahan campaign."
"Barack Obama should be campaigning his heart out for Robin Carnahan," Lloyd Smith, executive director of the Missouri Republican Party, said in a statement Tuesday. "We are not aware of another example of the president ignoring a U.S. Senate candidate on the ballot in less than eight months and instead raising money for someone who is not up for reelection until 2012."
While Obama is scheduled to raise money for Claire McCaskill and the DSCC, Carnahan was feted at a fundraiser hosted by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.). The NRSC chose to target Carnahan for that event with the "author of the Louisiana Purchase," a reference to the maligned deal Landrieu secured for her state before voting on the initial Senate health care bill.
Democrats say Republicans are making much ado about very little, pointing to her long-established schedule and the White House's repeated public statements of support. To this point, President Obama has only raised money for campaign committees or incumbent U.S. senators up for re-election this year; no challengers have seen visits just yet. Obama did acknowledge Carnahan on a visit to Missouri in April 2009 before she launched her campaign, saying she "may turn out to be pretty good in Washington if she just so decides." And Vice President Biden headlined a fundraiser on her behalf in October.
While Carnahan was critical of the spending in Washington, she has said she supported the Senate health care bill voted on last December. As for the current status of the legislation, campaign spokesman Linden Zakula said the gridlock is "another example of how Washington is broken."
"[Missouri families are] worried about jobs and the economy, not what procedural method is going to be used in Washington," he said. "They expect folks to get things done, and that's what Washington ought to being."
Carnahan was one of the Democrats' early recruiting success stories of the cycle, but what recent polling there has been has shown an early advantage fading against Rep. Roy Blunt (R). But Democrats expect it to remain tight through the fall.
"Missouri has traditionally been obviously the ultimate bellwether state," Gov. Jay Nixon (D) told RCP while in Washington last month. "Secretary Carnahan is a very strong candidate who articulates the needs of the state, and we feel good about that race and I think Missouri as always will tighten up as the months move forward."