President Obama will go where he’s needed on the last weekend of campaigning in 2010. Former TPM reporter and now CQ/Roll Call‘s Christina Bellantoni reports that Obama “is keeping his calendar for the final weekend of the election wide open so he can fly to a battleground state or two with little notice if a Democrat is in need.”
Halloween weekend will be the culmination of years of preparation by the Republicans, who set out to run against Obama and his agenda right from the start. Throughout the campaign, Republicans have used Obama along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid as bogeymen — the fearsome creatures of spending that lurk under every good conservative’s bed. At the same time, the public has grown weary of the weak economy and has looked to its leaders to take the blame.
Both factors have forced many Democrats to keep Obama at arm’s length this election season. Despite the closeness of the race in Senate race Kentucky for example, you’re not likely to see Obama there on Oct. 31 (especially with Democratic nominee Jack Conway running ads like this.) But, as the White House told Christina, Obama has lifted the spirits of Democrats in other tough races this year and could help an embattled Democrat surge to a final victory.
“White House aides believe there has been tightening on the ground in key races — including Pennsylvania — thanks in part to Obama making the case for the party on the stump,” she writes. “They think Democrats were dispirited all year but that now the base is becoming more engaged as the election nears.”
So, where does the President go? Obama aides tell Christina that the Keystone State remains “at the top of the list for another trip since it’s so close.” Even closer, of course, would be Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s big rally in DC, which most observers expect will draw tens of thousands of Democratic-leaning voters to the National Mall — which is basically right outside Obama’s back door.
