North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan found herself in the unfortunate position of being photographed with an unpopular President Obama at an American Legion event today and did her best to try and put some distance between them, despite the embrace.
But really, how can North Carolina voters see this as anything other than an instance of election year promises, promises, when Hagan has supported so much of Obama agenda so far? “I have told the president that promises alone aren’t going to get it done,” said Hagan.
Obama helped carry Hagan into office, winning NC in 2008; yet, lost it to Mitt Romney by 92,000 votes in 2012 and Obama remains unpopular within the state. If Hagan is smart, she’ll make Obama promise to not return to North Carolina before November but it may already be too late in a key state to decide control of the Senate during the last two years of his second term.
A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll released last week essentially shows a tie in the North Carolina Senate race. While support for Obama has slipped in many states since his re-election, Hagan’s 41% job-approval rating is lower than the 45% for Obama.
Daniel Keylin, a spokesman for the Tillis campaign, said the issue is not about photos with Obama. Hagan, he said, “has rubber-stamped his partisan liberal agenda.”