Missouri Dem. Senator May Skip Party's Convention...

[paulitician]

Boy, what's going on with the Democrats? Talk about 'Rats jumping ship?'


Missouri Dem. Senator May Skip Party's Convention (Update: McCaskill Confirms She Will Skip Convention)

Yet another possible setback for the Democratic party. According to the Saint Louis Beacon, Missouri senator Claire McCaskill, who is in the middle of a tough reelection fight, might skip the Democratic convention in September.

"A campaign aide said the senator’s schedule for September was still in flux," the Beacon reports. "McCaskill expects to be in a tough re-election battle."

McCaskill had missed the state Democratic convention several weeks ago because her mother has been ill. She did make the party's biggest fundraising event of the year, the Jefferson-Jackson dinner, last Friday.

McCaskill also skipped the 2004 Democratic presidential convention in Boston because she was engaged in a spirited contest for governor. McCaskill was in a difficult political position that year because she was challenging a fellow Democrat already holding the office, then-Gov. Bob Holden.

The national convention that year was held in late July, just weeks before Missouri’s 2004 presidential primary, in which McCaskill defeated Holden. She lost that November to the Republican nominee, Matt Blunt.

Skipping the Democratic convention would be a signal to both Missouri voters and the national party that McCaskill wants to distance herself from President Obama.

Update: Claire McCaskill will not be attending the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, a McCaskill aide confirmed to TPM Tuesday. McCaskill joins a list of vulnerable Democratic politicians whose home districts are hostile ground for President Obama and who will be steering clear of the convention.

Missouri Dem. Senator May Skip Party's Convention (Update: McCaskill Confirms She Will Skip Convention) | The Weekly Standard
DRUDGE REPORT 2012®

 

[Moonglow]

so? It is not unusual for people not to attend the convention, mainly if they are running for office.

 

[paulitician]

Endangered Georgia Democratic Congressman Skipping Convention


John Barrow, the Georgia Democrat, looks to be following the lead of Claire McCaskill of Missouri, and Joe Manchin and Earl Ray Tomblin of West Virginia and will not be attending the Democratic National Convention. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

WASHINGTON—Augusta U.S. Rep. John Barrow will skip the Democratic National Convention in September, adding to a growing list of Democrats distancing themselves from the national party's major quadrennial get-together.

Barrow spokesman Richard Carbo said Tuesday that Barrow is not going to Charlotte because he is "planning a number of events throughout [the] district during that time."

Barrow is in his fourth term and faces a difficult re-election test in a district newly redrawn to lean Republican. He moved from Savannah to Augusta this year to remain in the reshaped 12th District.

Barrow is the National Republican Congressional Committee's top target for 2012 and may be the most endangered House Democrat of the year.

Endangered Georgia Democratic Congressman Skipping Convention | The Weekly Standard