Editor’s Note: ABC News published an astonishing admission today, revealing that President Barack Obama has not attended a single public campaign event for a Democratic candidate as the party heads into a white-hot election season.
Just three weeks to go until the midterm elections and with control of the Senate hanging in the balance, candidates are scrambling toward the finish line.
One key figure, however, has been largely absent: President Obama.
President Obama has appeared at zero public campaign events this cycle, opting instead to tap into his fundraising prowess to boost Democratic candidates behind closed-doors.
Obama’s absence on the trail underscores how the president has become a political liability for many candidates. With his approval rating down in the dumps, a personal visit from Obama would likely hurt rather than help his party’s cause in the hotly contested states.
Obama is expected to step-up his public presence on the campaign trail in these final weeks, but likely only in deep blue states. He will attend his first public campaign rally for a candidate this Wednesday when he stumps for Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy.
It’s not unheard of for the president to be scarce in the run-up to the midterms. President George W. Bush headlined 15 rallies in 2006, but they were all in the final weeks, according to Brendan Doherty, professor of political science at the US Naval Academy and author of “The Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign.”
Not only is the president a persona non grata on the trail, Democratic candidates are going to great lengths to avoid being even remotely associated with him.