Obama Aims to Sway Midterm Elections
By JONATHAN WEISMAN
WASHINGTON -- Just four months in office, President Barack Obama and his White House are taking steps to shore up Democratic Congressional majorities in next year's midterm elections.
This month, the president tried -- but failed -- to recruit a high-profile candidate for a Senate contest in North Carolina. He stepped in to head off a primary battle for the New York Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. He promised to back Sen. Arlen Specter, the Republican-turned Democrat, if a Democratic challenger emerged. And this week he will go to Las Vegas and Los Angeles to raise cash for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Democratic National Committee.
Since Ronald Reagan, every president has had a political office and has intervened in midterm elections. Obama aides say that with such a full legislative plate, politics is hardly a focus. "We've got our hands full with a thousand other things," senior White House adviser David Axelrod said Monday.
But with a chief of staff like Rahm Emanuel and a political operator like Mr. Axelrod in the West Wing, Democrats expect the help. Mr. Emanuel comes from the political crucible of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and saw the devastation wrought by the 1994 Republican sweep on the last president he worked for, Bill Clinton. Mr. Axelrod has deep ties to the DCCC.
"There's a confluence of expertise in politics, policy and making things happen," said Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
No one anticipates the Democrats losing control of Congress. Indeed, in the Senate, the Republicans are the ones on the defense, with endangered seats in Missouri, New Hampshire, Kentucky and Ohio. Only one Democratic seat, Sen. Christopher Dodd's in Connecticut, currently is considered a toss-up.
Democrats in the Senate have a shot at solidifying their ability to overcome filibusters or delaying tactics with 60 or more Senators voting with them. But with unemployment near 9% and Republicans gaining traction on national-security issues, the winds could shift quickly. Appointed senators in Colorado, Illinois, New York and Delaware have yet to prove their appeal. And the president's aggressive agenda -- including a health-care overhaul and a national energy strategy -- could fracture the Democrats' left flank from its nervous center.
"We're all aware that the landscape can change pretty quickly in politics. What seems promising today can be less promising tomorrow," Mr. Axelrod said.
The White House's willingness to engage emerged with a surprising bang. Democratic campaign operatives grumbled that Mr. Obama got involved in a special House election in upstate New York both late and grudgingly. But at the insistence of Sens. Menendez, Charles Schumer (D., N.Y) and Kirsten Gillibrand herself, Mr. Obama stepped in this month to head off a primary challenge from Rep. Steve Israel to Ms. Gillibrand's New York Senate race next year.
The Tuesday fund-raiser for Senate Majority Leader Reid in Las Vegas is expected to haul in more than $1 million. Facing poor poll numbers, Mr. Reid approached Mr. Emanuel more than two months ago, looking for payback after he helped deliver for President Obama a 12-point win in Nevada in November, said Reid spokesman Jon Summers.
Among the hosts at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles Wednesday for the Democratic National Committee fund-raiser will be Hollywood moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Entry will set back a couple $30,400.
On Friday, Mr. Obama sneaked in a plug for Sen. Dodd at a Rose Garden signing ceremony for a law restraining credit-card companies. Mr. Dodd "spent an entire career fighting against special interests and fighting for ordinary people," Mr. Obama said of the banking committee chairman.
Mr. Obama tried unsuccessfully to recruit North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper to take on Sen. Richard Burr next year, meeting with him at the White House in mid-May, just days before Mr. Cooper bowed out.
Republicans, for their part, aren't questioning Mr. Obama's right as head of his party to get involved in midterm elections. "This is the same president who has single-handedly taken over the auto industry. It really shouldn't come as a surprise that he's looking to call the shots on individual congressional races," said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. |
