President Obama will make the first public campaign appearance of the 2014 cycle Sunday in Maryland — just 16 days before voters head to the polls.
But the event — like almost every rally on the president’s schedule over the next two weeks — will be for the state’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Anthony Brown.
In the biggest game in town — whether or not Democrats hold the Senate — the president is virtually absent from the campaign trail to help his party hold the upper chamber.
He’s fundraised to help Senate Democrats for months. But just over two weeks out the White House seems to have come to a sober reality — even though he has a ton to lose if Republicans take back the Senate, the president is more of a liability than an asset for Democrats locked in tough races.
While the White House has said Obama will travel in the coming days to Illinois, Michigan, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Maine, it’s only with Senate hopeful Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) — who has a healthy lead in the polls — that the president is committed to appear publicly alongside a federal candidate.
That’s despite Obama repeatedly emphasizing how crucial retaining control of the upper chamber is to the remainder of his second term.
“We really need to have the kind of Congress that is serious about the issues that matter to folks… I need everybody listening to understand this is really, really important,” Obama said in a radio interview Wednesday. “I need everybody’s help. This is the last election I’m involved in that really makes a difference.”
Even Democrats reluctantly admit his absence is probably for the best.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/221185-obamas-midterm-dilemma
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