President Obama’s lack of marquee events on the eve of the 2014 midterm elections shows just how much his political stature has diminished since his self-professed “shellacking” four years ago.
The midterms are often unkind to a sitting president — as Obama learned when Republicans reclaimed the House in 2010 — but the president’s level of campaigning in 2010 looks ambitious compared with his efforts this time.
Obama spent the final weeks before the 2010 November contests stumping for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in arguably the highest-profile race that year. He was repeatedly by the side of then-Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, locked in the most competitive gubernatorial race nationwide. And he even traveled into a red-leaning district in Virginia to try to save a House seat for Democrats.
There were frequent campaign events, even in battleground states, such as Ohio. And he didn’t mind helping out candidates who had a very real chance of losing.
In 2014, Obama has mostly stayed away from competitive races, opting instead to assist Democratic governors in progressive states. He has devoted far more time to closed-door fundraisers, pumping money into the campaign coffers of candidates who would rather not be seen with him.
Obama’s event Thursday in Maine for Democratic candidates was just his fourth political rally of 2014, one-third as many as he headlined in 2010 at the same point, according to statistics compiled by CBS News’ Mark Knoller.
Obama made the easy trip to neighboring Maryland to promote gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown. He hopped on Air Force One to help Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke and Maine’s Mike Michaud. He’ll do the same for Michigan gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer on Saturday and wrap up his 2014 campaigning with events for Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf on Sunday.
Missing, though, are the types of congressional races Obama lent his name to in 2010.
With an assist from the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara, let’s take a look at the campaign rallies on Obama’s itinerary in the final days leading up to the 2010 midterms:
Oct 7: Obama speaks at a rally for Gov. Martin O’Malley, D-Md., now a possible 2016 White House candidate.
“They say that all of you who worked so hard in 2008, you might not be as pumped up, might not as be as energized.You might not care as much; that you might be willing to let the other folks who left the economy in a shambles go back to Washington and go back to Annapolis,” Obama tells the crowd in Bowie. “Well, Maryland, I think the pundits are wrong. But it’s up to you to prove them wrong.”
He is proven right on O’Malley, who cruised to re-election in the reliably blue state. More consequential for his agenda, though, Obama is wrong about the fate of the lower chamber.
The president then travels to Chicago to speak at an event for Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, running to fill the Senate seat once held by Obama.
Though the White House involvement would seem like a safe move in blue-leaning Illinois, Democrats’ hope of keeping the seat is diminished by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s attempt to cash in on the vacancy.
Republican Mark Kirk wins the Illinois seat, capping the embarrassing episode for the state’s Democratic party.
Oct. 10: Obama and Vice President Joe Biden deliver remarks at a Democratic National Committee rally in Philadelphia.
The president delivers a critique of the GOP not all that different from the one he still makes six years into his presidency.
“And so what they figured was, if we just sat on the sidelines, if Republicans just opposed everything we said we could do, if they rejected every compromise we offered, if they spent all their time attacking Democrats instead of attacking problems, they figured they might be able to do well in the polls,” he complains.
Oct. 11: Obama attends multiple events for Rep. Ron Klein, D-Fla. Klein later loses his seat to conservative Allen West.
Oct. 15: The president headlines a rally for Delaware Senate candidate Chris Coons in Wilmington, joined by the home-state icon, Biden.
“In filling these enormous shoes of Joe, that we get somebody who represents those same Delaware values,” Obama tells the Delaware crowd. “And Chris is the kind of leader that you want representing you in the United States Senate.”
Coons crushed the Tea Party-aligned Christine O’Donnell.
Oct. 16: Obama leads a rally for close friend, Gov. Deval Patrick, D-Mass, who goes on to win re-election.
Oct. 17: Obama brings his presidential clout to the Buckeye State, where Gov. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, is engaged in one of the nastiest races in the country. The president attends both a fundraiser and rally on Strickland’s behalf.
“I implore you to do everything you can over these final two weeks to make sure that we’ve got Ted Strickland in for another four years,” Obama says. “It is absolutely critical.”
It doesn’t happen.
After waiting out the returns from Cuyahoga County, Republican John Kasich is declared the winner.
Oct. 20: Another rally. This time for Gov. John Kitzhaber in Oregon. Perhaps the visit helped, since the incumbent prevailed by less than two percentage points.
Oct. 21: Obama stays in the Pacific Northwest another day to help out Democratic Washington Sen. Patty Murray.
“When this state sent Patty to the Senate, she wasn’t one of those lifelong politicians who wanted the job for the fancy title or the nice office. She was the mom in tennis shoes who was just looking to help a few people and solve a few problems,” Obama says in Seattle.
Murray goes on to win a fourth term.
Oct. 22: The West Coast trek continues, with Obama traveling to his political home away from home: Hollywood. The president stumps for Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
Republican candidate Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, brings some star power to the race. Boxer, however, cruises to another six-year term.
But it’s an event later in the day that carries real political consequences for the White House.
The president headlines a political rally in Las Vegas. The objective: to give Reid, the top target for Republicans that year, a much-needed boost.
“You know, Harry’s not the flashiest guy, let’s face it,” Obama tells the crowd in Nevada. “You know, Harry kind of speaks in a very soft voice. He doesn’t move real quick. He doesn’t get up and make big stem-winding speeches. But Harry Reid does the right thing.”
When the audience starts chanting “Obama,” the president tells them to yell “Harry,” instead. The crowd complies, sort of.
Luckily for Reid, the race isn’t a popularity contest nor nearly as close as the pundits predicted. Obama doesn’t have to worry about losing his most important ally in the Senate.
Oct. 23: Obama gives remarks at a rally for Minnesota Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton. In one of the few bright spots for Democrats that year, Dayton takes back control of the governor’s mansion after Tim Pawlenty decides not to seek re-election.
Oct. 29: The president takes the unusual step of wading into the fight for a red-leaning congressional district in Central Virginia. Obama attempts to prop up the incumbent, Tom Perriello, one of the most vulnerable Democrats of that election cycle.
“Now, look, I am here for one reason. I’m not here because Tom votes with me on every issue,” Obama says in Charlottesville. “Sometimes he disagrees with me. There are times where I know that his first allegiance is not to party labels, it’s not to the Democratic Party; it is to the people of his district and the people of Virginia.”
The president’s attempt to showcase Perriello’s independence doesn’t sway the voters of Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District. Then-state Sen. Robert Hurt comfortably wins the seat and has controlled it ever since.
Oct. 30-31: A final blitz of campaign rallies in Philadelphia, Bridgeport, Conn., Chicago and Cleveland do little to prevent the oncoming GOP wave. In the following days, Obama calls the elections a “shellacking” and vows to work effectively with a Republican-led House, a development that never comes to fruition.
