Michael Bennet Faces the Barack Obama Problem

Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), appointed to fill the term of Kenneth Salazar after he was appointed Secretary of the Interior, is wondering what to do about the main problem facing Democrats running in 2010: President Barack Obama.

According to AP, he told Good Morning America that he would have to consider what role if any President Obama would play in his campaign: "We're going to have to give it some thought."

Michael Bennet had been supported in the Democratic primary by President Obama against Rep. Andrew Romanoff, supported by former President Bill Clinton. Bennet will now face Ken Buck, a prosecutor and Tea Party favorite, in the general election.

While Colorado has trended Democratic in recent elections, Buck holds the edge in the TPM Polltracker average of recent polls. That seems to reflect the nationwide trend against Democrats, largely because of public discontent against Obama and his policies.

So Senator Bennet, as do most Democrats running for office in 2010, faces a conundrum about what to do about President Obama.

One solution, invoked most recently by Texas Gubernatorial candidate Bill White, is to run as far away as possible from President Obama. Obama is welcome to raise money in closed door meetings, but he should otherwise not be identified with the candidate.

What worked for White, whose previous political experience was serving as Mayor of Houston, may not work for Bennet. Bennet did vote for the stimulus bill and the health care reform bill, and even boasted that he did so even at the peril of losing the next election. Considering how the American public detests both the stimulus bill and health care reform, Bennet may get his wish.

Ken Buck will likely remind Colorado voters about how Bennet supported much of the Obama agenda, even if Bennet will try not to mention that inconvenient truth. Such is the problem a candidate faces when the President of his party has become unpopular.

What can Bennet do? The Democrats' strategy seems to be to try to tell people that their Republican opponents are scary extremists. The message is, "You may not like us, but the other guys are so much worse." That is a gambit that rarely works in politics. Between the detested known and the unknown, dubious or hopeful, voters will invariably choose the unknown.

Bennet may even try the "Blame Bush" strategy being invoked by President Obama and others. That likely will not work. President Bush has been out of office for over a year and a half, and many are starting to look back upon his administration with a certain nostalgia, when deficits were only in the hundreds of billions and we seemed to be serious about winning the War on Terror.

Source:

Victorious Sen. Bennet of Colorado not sure about Obama's role in his campaign, AP, August 11th, 2010

Bennt vs. Buck Colorado Senate, TPM Polltracker