One of the NYT’s lead stories today has some bad news for the president: Four incumbent New York Democratic congressmen facing tight races will skip the party’s convention to focus on campaigning:
[T]he decisions, in some cases, also reflect the reality that even in some pockets of a state as reliably blue as New York, Democrats do not see the president as a political asset.
“Half the electorate is really not happy at this point with the president’s leadership, and so that doesn’t provide members of the House with much of a basis for thinking there will be coattails for them to ride on,” said James E. Campbell, a professor of political science at the State University at Buffalo. “I don’t think they’re running away from him, but I don’t think they’re running to be seen as a close ally of his, either.” . . .
None of the four Democrats were eager to talk about why they were skipping the convention, or whether their decision to stay home had anything to do with Mr. Obama.”
Plus, a Democratic convention in North Carolina could be pretty awkward anyway.