Today’s Washington Times has a report on how Obama is hitting the campaign trail on behalf of Democratic incumbents in the Senate. But buried in the story is this telling item:
Mr. Obama on Thursday will head to Colorado to deliver remarks at an event for Sen. Michael Bennet, who is trailing both Republicans vying for their party’s nomination. Mr. Bennet, 45, took office in January 2009 when Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. appointed him to fill the seat of Ken Salazar, whom Mr. Obama appointed to his Cabinet as secretary of the interior.
Mr. Bennet trails Jane Norton, a former lieutenant governor and state representative, by 14 percentage points, and Ken Bush, a district attorney and former congressional aide, by four percentage points, according to the most recent Rasmussen Reports survey.
Purple Colorado is as much or more of a bellwether as any state in the country. In 2008, Mark Udall — a very liberal candidate from the People’s Republic of Boulder — rode Obama’s coat tails into the Senate against a very good Republican candidate Bob Schaffer. Barely a year later, and Democratic incumbent Senator is trailing his Republican challenger by 14 points? That is an ominous downturn in popularity for Democrats.
