Obama, Clinton Stumping Hard for Congressional Races

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by: Colorado Pols

Here comes Obama.

As CNN reports, Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is increasingly shifting her campaign resources toward helping Democrats in winning close Congressional seats around the country:

After nearly five months of ripping into Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton suddenly has a new list of enemies on the campaign trail: Republican candidates in competitive down-ballot races.

Clinton’s pivot is an unmistakable sign that she and her top aides have never felt more confident about victory on November 8…

…Determined to capitalize on her opponent’s her opponent’s recent struggles, Clinton has picked up her pace of campaigning, and in the final two weeks of the 2016 race, she will crisscross the country to vouch for Democrats in tough congressional races.

Her ultimate goal is to secure a Democratic-controlled Senate — crucial to a Clinton administration’s ability to set an aggressive first-term agenda.

President Barack Obama is also turning up the heat in several competitive Congressional battles around the country. Obama directly criticized Republican Rep. Darrell Issa at a fundraiser in La Jolla, California on Sunday. Here in Colorado today, Obama formally endorsed Democrat Morgan Carroll in CD-6. As the Aurora Sentinel reports, here’s the full statement of Obama’s endorsement:

“I’m proud to endorse Morgan Carroll for the United States House of Representatives,” Obama said. “Over the last eight years, we’ve made tremendous strides towards making our nation safer, stronger, and fairer, but it’s clear that to continue this progress, we need to send more commonsense leaders like Morgan Carroll to Congress to get things done for the middle class. Morgan Carroll is a champion for Colorado families — fighting for good-paying jobs and better wages, and isn’t afraid to take on the tough fights, like defending a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions, passing tough campaign finance and lobbying reform laws, making sure we keep our sacred promises to our nation’s veterans and their families, and addressing the crushing burden of student loan debt felt by so many Colorado students. Morgan Carroll is the kind of tough and smart leader who will build on all we’ve accomplished and take our nation forward, and that’s why I know Coloradans can count on Morgan Carroll.”

Coffman is touting his own list of endorsements, though they are decidedly less interesting than President Obama’s backing:

Coffman rolled out his own partisan praise last week, announcing the endorsement of area Republican mayors and county commissioners.

We wrote last week that the worst-case-scenario for Republicans was that disaffected GOP voters just wouldn’t bother voting at all. But if Obama and Clinton are confident enough about the top of the ticket with two weeks left that they are going to focus their efforts on down-ballot races…well, the worst-case-scenario for Republicans might have changed significantly.

12 thoughts on “Obama, Clinton Stumping Hard for Congressional Races”

JohnInDenver says:

October 24, 2016 at 6:01 pm

And Coffman has a bit of a problem with who he DOESN'T want to affiliate with. According to Huffpost,

Coffman, who sent two letters over two different ads, also takes issue with a second ad stating that “Coffman said he’d support Trump for president.” Coffman’s lawyer says that claim is “false and defamatory,” an indication of just how damaging supporting Trump can be in Coffman’s Latino-heavy district.

I can't recall another Congressional candidate taking the position a claim about supporting a party's own candidate would be false and defamatory. Wonder what sort of damages he thinks occurred.

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1. MichaelBowman says:
  
  October 24, 2016 at 10:08 pm
  
  It will be interesting to see just how long the toxic tail will be on the Trump endorsements. If TrumpTV / Trump Media comes to fruition and they fan the hate as we expect, I can imagine the size of the anvil around the necks of incumbent R's in the '18 mid-terms and '20 Senate races who endorsed Drumpf in '16. The commercials will write themselves.
  
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  1. ElliotFladen says:
    
    October 25, 2016 at 5:15 am
    
    It is toxic enough for a guy like me to pledge not to vote for a single GOP candidate this half cycle and actually vote for some Dems down ballot (something I have never done before).
    
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    1. Duke Cox says:
      
      October 25, 2016 at 5:32 am
      
      Well..may I complement you, Elliot, on your willingness to change and be flexible. Drumpfs' toxicity is the poison that is killing the Republican party.
      
      I am curious, Elliot. Do you see a new party arising here, or can the Republican party survive the sinking of Trumps little boat?
      
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      1. ElliotFladen says:
        
        October 25, 2016 at 5:47 am
        
        Haven't really changed at all. I'm an economic conservative and Clinton is clearly to Trump's right on such issues (less about Clinton on that and more on just how idiotic Trump is). Couple that with Trump's racists and demogogue tendencies, his admiration for strong men, and (most importantly) his thin skin/self-delusion/narcicism/short temper and there is simply no way he is qualified to be President.
        
        As for a new party, I don't know. I am having a lot of difficulty seeing the GOP coalition stick together after this. Some of my more connected friends are hinting their theory that Trump gets written off as an aberration. Maybe some will go for that. It's tough for me to though. Trump was a moment of truth in my eyes given his rejection of conservative principles and rank unsuitability for the job: namely, were people Republican because of their values or because of their thirst for small scraps of power. By and large the answer has been the latter. And given how much I disagreed with some positions the GOP was already taking realizing that it's officials don't even share the same values on the economic issues I care about makes it very difficult for me to see myself returning to the GOP's greater orbit. This is even more true given the pending disastrous and largely irreversible loss of SCOTUS that will occur due to Trump (taking that major issue off the table for me because it will be lost)
        
        My guess is much depends on what happens with the Dem party. If there is a crackup between the progressives and the moderates, maybe a major realignment gets completed in a few years with a new party forming with sections of the former GOP and the Dems. I would like that a lot actually. On the other hand, maybe the GOP's descent into empty nationalism changes our entire political dynamic and alters the very issues people care about.
        
        We will live in interesting times. Just like the old curse says.
        
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        Duke Cox says:
        
        October 25, 2016 at 6:16 am
        
        Interesting observations.
        
        I read a story on Maddow s' blog about Paul Ryan claiming the Democratic party has been taken over by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. I hope he is right.
        
        My concerns about the Democratic party are no less troublesome in my mind, than yours of your parties' future. I am not a Hillary Clinton fan and do not expect anything approaching liberalism from her. Her fealty to Lloyd Blankfein et al , does not bode well for Americas' less fortunate citizens.
        
        The opinion of our resident, know-it-all, Blue Dogs notwithstanding, I do not expect anything but further entrenchment of the Lords of Wall Street as the driving force in American politics. It is a good time to be a "moderate"….which is DINO-speak for "corporatist".
        
        Now for the usual excoriation of your humble servant by the aforementioned know-it-alls….3…2…1…
        
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        Voyageur says:
        
        October 25, 2016 at 9:28 am
        
        Hell, Duke, I've been thrown out of better parties than yours. Bring back the Whigs!
        
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        BlueCat says:
        
        October 25, 2016 at 11:31 am
        
        The Blue Dog Coalition, commonly known as the Blue Dogsor Blue Dog Democrats, is a caucus of United States Congressional Representatives from the Democratic Party who identify themselves as conservative Democrats.
        
        Hmmm. Not centrist, Not moderate. Conservative. I really can't think of any resident conservative Dems. Anti-choice? Anti- gay rights? Trickle down fans? Opponents of background checks? Nobody is springing to mind.
        
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    2. notaskinnycook says:
      
      October 25, 2016 at 9:15 am
      
      Good for you, Elliot!
      
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2. ElliotFladen says:
  
  October 25, 2016 at 5:13 am
  
  If Coffman thinks those ads are false I'd love to see him try and justify his ads in Spanish that have been running on 96.5 AM.
  
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  1. mamajama55 says:
    
    October 25, 2016 at 6:22 am
    
    Elliot, what do Coffman's Spanish ads say?
    
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    1. ElliotFladen says:
      
      October 25, 2016 at 7:10 am
      
      That he fights for Hispanic families and Carroll can't be trusted on the topic. There are also ads for other races. My guess is Arapahoe County peeps got really clever with strategy and snuck one by you guys as nobody really watches Spanish radio for dishonest ads on either side.
      
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