On MSNBC Thursday, Senator Jon Tester (D-Mont.) was asked whether President Barack Obama being at the top of the ticket in November would be a “drag” on Tester’s reelection chances. Watch the video below:
“The president isn’t particularly doing well in a state like Montana,” Tester said. “But this isn’t about the presidential race. This is about a U.S. Senate race in Montana.”
A first-term senator, Tester is considered one of the most endangered Democrats of the 2012 cycle. After winning a razor-thin victory in 2006 against scandal-plagued Republican Conrad Burns, Tester has been a reliable Democratic vote in the Senate. In his first television ad, Tester tried to sell himself as a true-blue Montanan fighting for his state’s interests in Washington, even as the Democrat has been dogged by reports of his close ties to K Street lobbyists.
And as Tester told MSNBC, Obama is very unpopular in Montana–under 34 percent approval in 2011, according to Gallup. That certainly can’t help anyone running in Montana with a “D” after his name on the ballot.
Republican congressman Denny Rehberg is challenging Tester for the seat.
