Some House Dems Decline To Endorse Obama

Local Political Concerns Take Precedence For At Least 14 Lawmakers

(AP)  Nothing personal, Sen. Obama, but our re-election comes first.

Barack Obama, for all his attention and primary successes, does not go over so well in a fair number of Democratic lawmakers' home districts. So it seems there is little chance that some will endorse him for president.

Some are counting on Republican votes in their re-election bids. Some are newly minted and in rematches with 2006 opponents. Some may be wary of how their constituents will react to a black presidential candidate. Some, too, have made it a practice of distancing themselves from the national party, fearing the inevitable campaign ad that has their face morphing into Howard Dean, the party chairman, and Obama.

Rep. Dan Boren, the only congressional Democrat in Oklahoma, calls Obama "the most liberal senator" in Congress and says he has no plans to make a public endorsement.

"We're much more conservative" in eastern Oklahoma, Boren said. "I've got to reflect my district."

Georgia Rep. Jim Marshall, a Democrat and Vietnam veteran who won his last election by about 1,800 votes, said he admires both Obama and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., but feels no obligation to state a preference.

"If it turns out one of them is an ax murderer or something like that I'll make a choice," he joked. Otherwise, "I don't think I need to get involved."

For most of these fence-sitters - at least 14 as of Wednesday - it boils down to political necessity: They are vulnerable Democrats in conservative-leaning districts who take pains to avoid aligning closely with the national party.

McCain has his own issues in his party. Many conservatives opposed the four-term senator, who has worked with Democrats and strayed from GOP orthodoxy on some issues, before he sealed the GOP nomination in February. Many still express reservations about him as the party leader.

Because McCain secured the party nomination much earlier in the campaign season, Republicans have not been pressed about their endorsements like Democrats have. But only a handful have publicly withheld their support for him. That includes Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, who long has bucked the party hierarchy, and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who is running his own presidential campaign.

On the Democratic side, Boren said he, like most of the undecideds, will go along with nominating Obama at the Democratic convention in Denver in August.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki challenged Boren over his assessment of Obama and said the candidate had worked with Republicans in the Illinois Legislature and in Senate.

Obama, seeking to become the first black president, is hardly the first Democratic candidate to face such resistance. Over the years, moderates and conservatives have avoided associating with nominees going back to George McGovern in 1972 and including John Kerry in 2004. Public endorsements were not an issue in 2004 since Kerry had wrapped up the nomination early.

"They are all scared to death about getting beat by a Republican," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., one of Obama's most prominent supporters. "I don't think that if the good Lord himself had been nominated as a Democrat that some of those folks would have endorsed him. They are afraid of looking too much like a Democrat because of the kind of districts they're from."

As in the past, many uncommitted Democrats are from the South, which has favored Republicans in recent elections.

Although Obama swept the region in the Democratic primaries with near-universal support from black voters, he often fared poorly among working-class whites. As a result, he is seen as an asset in some districts but a question mark at best in others.

Rep. John Barrow, for example, represents a coastal Georgia district where blacks make up more than 40 percent of registered voters, mainly in urban areas around Savannah and Augusta. Not surprisingly, Barrow - who won his last election by fewer than 900 votes - endorsed Obama in February.

But Marshall, the Democratic incumbent in a neighboring district in rural central Georgia, has stayed quiet.

Marshall's district is less than one-third black, and he needs the support of white Republicans to win, including votes from the military community around Robins Air Force Base. He faces a fresh challenge this year from a retired Air Force general.

Republican campaign strategists already have shown they want to link Democratic candidates with Obama and other national figures, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor.

In special elections last month in Mississippi and Louisiana, Democratic candidates Travis Childers and Don Cazayoux faced television ads attempting to make those connections.

But Childers and Cazayoux won surprise victories, raising questions about the strategy's effectiveness.

Still, Childers is staying out of the presidential race, as is his fellow Mississippi Democrat Gene Taylor. Cazayoux recently announced he is backing Obama.

Obama's campaign has made some progress in converting the holdouts. Freshman Rep. Nancy Boyda of Kansas, who had insisted she would not budge from the undecided column, budged on Wednesday and endorsed Obama.

Boyda "has been impressed with Senator Obama's campaign because they're willing to take their discussion to all 50 states, rather than just the swing states," spokeswoman Liz Montano said.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, a Democratic House leader who helped orchestrate the party's strategy for winning control of Congress in 2006, argues against reading too much into the holdouts. He said most of them always stay out of national politics and that the party is generally unified around Obama.

"They're just going to stick to their knitting," he said. "It's not that they're anti-Obama."

[justspiffy]

I''m sure not voting for McCain or Obama so I suppose I just won''t vote.

[beastof70]

Have any of you ever truly sat and listened carefully to anything OsamaObama offers? Really tried to dissect the lawyer wording in his beatiful speeches??

He is truly one outstanding speaker, cabable of speaking on both sides of any issue, leaving the audience convinced he was addressing the side they support.

This is a technique they work hard in lawyer school teaching students. Osama was clearly a great student.

[beastof70]

Posted by thomasandkim at 09:38 AM
========================

We can all see OsamaObama and gang managed to breech load you with his subversive racial assault techniques.

Problem being....It''s getting to the point many of us real Americans family lineage contains far more hyphens than his. Thus his race for the White House will have to be won on his merits.

Something this inexperienced, imature, #1 most liberal member of the US Senate simply hasn''t been able to demonstrate.

[beastof70]

"Not because he''s anywhere near conservative enough to make me happy. Solely because he''s less liberal than the #1 ranked most liberal member of the US Senate these Democrats are offering. A Senator who is so liberal it would not surprise me to find out he sports a hammer and sickle tatoo.
Posted by Beastof70 at 10:35 AM : Jun 13, 2008"


Yea, because it was sooooo likely that you would be voting for ANY Democrat. Please, your rhetoric belies your Republican roots, you are no more likely to vote for a Democrat than I am to vote for a Republican.
Posted by taddles3 at 12:31 PM
================
Hmmmm?? At least I see Toodles didn''t perform her typical hatchet job on my post to the degree of turning them into lies.

However, I must wonder where, even in the parts of my response she did hatchet, could she possibly have found where I willing admitted to having ever voted for any hyphenated-American Democrat??

Toodles, just because you say it''s so, certainly is not supported by your past willingness to selectively edit posts on this board.

[beastof70]

You might want to take a closer look at that website, they are posting a lot of really stupid things. You might want to be a bit more discriminating in your news sources.

Headlines from realdealreport.com"

"Satanic Messages Could be Embedded in Obama''''s Speeches"

"More Guilt by Association: Obama%u2019s dry cleaner a possible convicted felon?%u2026developing"

"...poll likely skewed towards blacks, young voters, and the educated..."

"Liberals demonize Sen. Lieberman%u2026claim stark resemblance to undercover %u201CSith Lord%u201D from Star Wars"

"Islamic Terrorists could be constructing a network of tunnels under your home"

"Leading democratic primary candidates ALL guilty of being unpatriotic...disobeyed "Title 36 of the U.S. Code..." For standing with their backs to the flag facing another flag.

Sponsors are:
FOX News
Sean Hannity
Bill O''''Rielly
Ann Coulter
Posted by taddles3
=================================
Reckon how much selective editing you did to your offering here Toodles??

After all, you edited two of my posts yesterday to the degree you turned them both into outright lies.

Sorry Toodles, but once you prove yourself willing to selectively edit to the degree of turning it into a lie, why should anyone believe anything you offer??

[taddles3]

"I''''ve seen it on the realdealreport.com website and wonder when ABC news ,CBS, CNN, etc. will air this stuff. We''''ll see what happens.

Posted by jjandall at 09:45 AM : Jun 13, 2008"


You might want to take a closer look at that website, they are posting a lot of really stupid things. You might want to be a bit more discriminating in your news sources.

Headlines from realdealreport.com"

"Satanic Messages Could be Embedded in Obama''s Speeches"

"More Guilt by Association: Obama%u2019s dry cleaner a possible convicted felon?%u2026developing"

"...poll likely skewed towards blacks, young voters, and the educated..."

"Liberals demonize Sen. Lieberman%u2026claim stark resemblance to undercover %u201CSith Lord%u201D from Star Wars"

"Islamic Terrorists could be constructing a network of tunnels under your home"

"Leading democratic primary candidates ALL guilty of being unpatriotic...disobeyed "Title 36 of the U.S. Code..." For standing with their backs to the flag facing another flag.

Sponsors are:
FOX News
Sean Hannity
Bill O''Rielly
Ann Coulter

[taddles3]

"I thought it was a small population of people, but it is larger than I thought.

Posted by thomasandkim at 09:38 AM : Jun 13, 2008"



They are a minority but they are very vocal.

[taddles3]

"Not because he''''s anywhere near conservative enough to make me happy. Solely because he''''s less liberal than the #1 ranked most liberal member of the US Senate these Democrats are offering. A Senator who is so liberal it would not surprise me to find out he sports a hammer and sickle tatoo.

Posted by Beastof70 at 10:35 AM : Jun 13, 2008"


Yea, because it was sooooo likely that you would be voting for ANY Democrat. Please, your rhetoric belies your Republican roots, you are no more likely to vote for a Democrat than I am to vote for a Republican.

[beastof70]

Reckon why OsamaObama doesn''t play up the fact he got the endorsement from the only KKK member to ever be seating in the US Senate??

It might help him with some of these hard core "Yellow Dogs" who are getting close to voting Republican for the first time in their whole life.

[beastof70]

I''m a 43 yr old woman (former Hillary supporter) who is leaning towards Obama. I wonder if he can really pull this thing off though. The GOP has a lot of bad stuff on this guy. I''ve seen it on the realdealreport.com website and wonder when ABC news ,CBS, CNN, etc. will air this stuff. We''ll see what happens.
Posted by jjandall at 09:45 AM
=================================

I truly don''t mean to be nasty, but seriously folks do any of you bother to read what you post, prior to pulling the trigger?

In the above, JJandall openly admits she''s still planning on supporting OsamaObama, even though she knows there''s a lot of "bad stuff" about this guy out there???????????????

Now take me for example...Given the two choices, there is absolutely no doubt I will vote for John McCain. Not because he''s anywhere near conservative enough to make me happy. Solely because he''s less liberal than the #1 ranked most liberal member of the US Senate these Democrats are offering. A Senator who is so liberal it would not surprise me to find out he sports a hammer and sickle tatoo.