While Democratic voters are growing less and less excited about voting in the 2012 elections, Democratic lawmakers up for reelection are so unenthusiastic they're asking President Obama not to show up in their districts. The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake observe that according to CNN's poll, only 42 percent of Democrats are extremely or very enthusiastic about voting next year, showing a steady decline since the spring, when 56 percent were excited to vote, and the summer, when 55 percent felt that way. In parts of Virginia -- Danville, Newport News, Charlottesville and Fredericksburg -- where Obama's approval rating hovers around a mediocre 50 percent, local Democratic officials asked him to stay away on his bus tour through the state, The Washington Post's Anita Kumar reports. Obama was planning on traveling through those towns till legislators facing tough reelections asked him to keep driving.
The state House minority leader, Democrat Ward Armstrong, responded to an ad from his Republican opponent that's "comparing me to Barack Obama," Armstrong says in his own ad. "That's a stretch, Charles. I'm pro-life, pro-gun, and I always put Virginia first." Politico's Jonathan Martin notes that Armstrong has aspirations for statewide office:
Adding to the grimmer numbers around the relection campaign are the Pew Research Center's findings that negative press coverage of Obama outweighs positive coverage by four to one. And, as if trying to kick the poor guy while he's down, someone stole his TelePrompter last week, and it was only recovered Monday. Democratic state senator Toddy Puller told Kumar, that Obama's "frustrating me, just like he's frustrating others out there." ABC News' Devin Dwyer reports that Obama is trying bring more attention to frustrations with Wall Street instead and tap the energy of the Occupy Wall Street protests to make his tour stops a bit peppier. He told a crowd in Asheville, North Carolina Monday that Republicans "want to let Wall Street do whatever it wants." The crowd booed, Dwyer says. Obama hopes he can convert those boos against Wall Street into yays for his own campaign.
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Elspeth Reeve
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