Louisiana, Colorado and Alaska may be far from the White House, but for congressional Democrats running for re-election, it’s not nearly far enough.
With President Obama’s approval ratings sinking to historic lows, House and Senate Democratic lawmakers seeking re-election in swing states have made a point of distancing themselves from the unpopular president.
They have dodged him during state visits, avoided mentioning his name to voters on the campaign trail, and mostly steered clear of associating themselves with his key policy initiatives, including his healthcare reform law and stricter environmental regulations.
But last week, with less than a month to go before the Nov. 4 election, the gloves really came off.
Congressional candidates took a few serious swings at Obama, who sank to the lowest rating of his presidency in an ABC News/Washington Post poll that found only 40 percent of Americans approve of his job performance.
At a closely watched Senate debate in Louisiana last week, incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu rated Obama “six to seven” on a scale of 10.
Giving Obama a higher score in Louisiana could have been a fatal political move for Landrieu, who is more than 5 points behind her Republican challenger, Rep. Bill Cassidy, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Obama’s approval rating in Louisiana has dipped below the national average and is hovering around 38 percent, which has helped propel Cassidy to the lead.
“He’s had a lot of tough issues,” Landrieu said of Obama during the debate.
She concluded the debate by reminding the viewing audience, “While President Obama is not on the ballot, the future of Louisiana is.”
In Alaska, Democratic Senate incumbent Mark Begich is scrambling to make the same case to Alaskan voters.
For months, Begich has been steering clear of the president, keeping him off the Alaskan campaign trail and describing himself to one reporter as a “thorn” in Obama’s backside.
Rather than having Obama join him at campaign events, Begich instead invited another Senate Democrat to help him bash Obama.
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., appeared with Begich in Juneau earlier this month and praised him for standing up to the unpopular president, the Associated Press reported.
Begich then reminded Juneau volunteers that Obama has only two years left in office.
“This is about Alaska’s future. Not his, ours,” Begich said, according to the AP.
Begich is trailing Republican opponent Dan Sullivan by more than 4 points.
The two are now waging a campaign war over who will work harder to stop Obama, whose green energy agenda is unpopular in the resource-rich state.
“I’ll stand up to Obama and get real results for Alaska,” Sullivan promised in a recent campaign ad.
Begich, meanwhile, is promoting his vote against a 2012 bipartisan budget compromise that preserved some Bush-era tax cuts but only for the lower tax brackets.
In the ad, Begich boasts that he voted against “Obama’s trillion-dollar tax increase.”
In Colorado, Senate Democratic incumbent Mark Udall is fighting to convince voters that he’s no Obama ally.
Udall cut an ad this month promising to fight the government’s sweeping collection of phone and Internet data, which he said was “started under a Republican president, continued under a Democratic one.”
“I won’t tolerate it,” Udall said.
Udall, who is vying for a second term, has watched his own poll numbers slide along with Obama’s sinking approval rating. His Republican challenger, Rep. Cory Gardner, now leads by 2 points.
Gardner has attacked Obama repeatedly in his campaign, particularly for his refusal to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which is broadly supported in polls.
In a new ad, Gardner said Udall “gives in to partisanship and helps the president destroy energy jobs.”
