Senator Claire McCaskill, (D-MO) appears to be “hiding” following the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act earlier this week.
A local news broadcast (h/t Hot Air) hints that McCaskill’s uphill reelection battle might be a contributing factor to her absence following the ruling:
To add to McCaskill’s reelection worries, she was the first moderate Democratic Senator nationally to support President Obama’s candidacy in 2008. Currently McCaskill is polling at about 40% when her challenger has yet to even be decided in Republican primary set for later this summer.
Senator McCaskill made headlines when she joined several other Democratic members of Congress who opted not to attend the Democratic National Convention scheduled for Charlotte later this year. The move was a clear attempt by McCaskill to distance herself from President Obama as election day draws nearer. Via the Washington Post:
Let’s start with what McCaskill cited as her reason for skipping. “In years when Claire is on the ballot, she has historically not gone to the convention,” an aide told Talking Points Memo, “because she believes it’s important to stay in Missouri to talk to voters.”Um, right. Unless you were born yesterday — and there are some kids out there to whom this actually applies — you know that the reason McCaskill is staying away from the national convention is to avoid handing Republicans a ready-made opportunity to tie her to President Obama who is, well, not so popular in the Show Me State at the moment.
However, it is not likely that Republicans will be willing to forgive and forget.
Thanks to the advent of YouTube and the web, nothing a politician either says or does disappears. And, not only that, but the opposition can, in moments, pull those old quotes up and broadcast them to the political world.And so, within seconds, the National Republican Senatorial Committee had sent out a message to Missouri reporters remind them of a bevy of quotes from McCaskill in support of Obama — including her speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
So is McCaskill’s strategy of “hiding” likely to be a successful one? Probably not. But when the alternative is backing the President and his health care law in Missouri, I suppose its not a bad strategy.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY