Obama will be in Denver on Wednesday – but he will be by himself. Obama’s Democratic allies in Colorado – Mark Udall, John Hickenlooper, and Andrew Romanoff – are all magically busy with other things while Obama is in town.
This should come as no huge surprise from Udall and Romanoff, who are running from a politically toxic liberal president in the hope that he won’t hurt them in their individual races this November.
Earlier this year Udall tried to run from campaigning with Obama – then he seemed to embrace the idea – but now he is back to avoiding the president, at least in public. For Udall there is a caveat about campaigning with Obama: It can only be in private. Udall will attend a closed-door fundraiser with the president on Wednesday night. While Udall tries to avoid being seen in public with Obama, he doesn’t seem to have a problem being a reliable vote for Obama’s agenda – after all, Udall voted with Obama 99 percent of the time last year.
Romanoff apparently doesn’t want to be seen in public with Obama either, which is interesting since he is more than willing to campaign with a whole host of other liberal Democrats. Although Romanoff has said he still supports Obama and his policies, perhaps he’s still feeling the sting from Obama’s 2010 Democrat Senate primary snub.
Even attorney general candidate, Don Quick (D), who has campaigned with Udall, has been silent on Obama’s visit.