Oct. 23, 2014: First lady Michelle Obama campaigns for Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., during a rally pushing voters to re-elect the incumbent candidate, on the campus of Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colo. (Photo: AP)
Senate Democrats are rethinking the idea of having Michelle Obama campaign with them in the final weeks of the campaign considering the first lady’s frequent stumbles.
Mrs. Obama screwed up another campaign event Thursday, when she confused Colorado Democratic Sen. Mark Udall with his Republican rival. Obama spoke in Denver Thursday as part of a campaign event for Udall, who is currently behind his Republican opponent, Rep. Cory Gardner.
“Mark understands what makes this state special,” she said, he’s a “fifth-generation Coloradan.”
Except, he isn’t. In fact, that would be his opponent. Gardner who is a fifth-generation Colorado resident, which he has highlighted on the campaign trail. His campaign website states he has “family roots dating back to 1886” in the state. Udall, on the other hand, was born in Arizona and his father, Mo Udall, represented the state of Arizona for decades.
“This is getting ridiculous,” an aid to Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan told PPD. “Doesn’t anyone prep the first lady so that she avoids making a completely false comment.”
Sen. Hagan’s aid said they were contemplating a Raleigh campaign event featuring the first lady, which was aimed at generating black voter turnout. Now, that is no longer on the table.
“The first gaffe was a mistake, an embarrassing mistake, but a mistake,” the aid said. “This was just a completely false claim.”
While campaigning for Iowa Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley, who is also in a tight Senate race and trailing Republican Joni Ernst, the first lady repeatedly misstated the name of the Democratic candidate. He isn’t exactly a nobody. Rep. Bruce Braley is a sitting member in the House of Representatives, a member that has supported Mr. Obama’s agenda 97 percent of the time.
The first lady repeatedly called him “Bruce Bailey.”
Then, after being told to correct her embarrassing mistake at the second campaign event, she called Braley the Democratic candidate for governor, not the Senate.
A senior Senate Democratic aide was recently said to the National Journal that “the ineptitude of the White House political operation has sunk from annoying to embarrassing.” The comment came after the president’s interview with Al Sharpton — also an attempt to gin up black supporters to vote in November — during which he said that Senate Democrats running from him support him, nonetheless. Obama said he told them “to do what you have to do to win.”
Hagan’s campaign aid insisted the incumbent remains slightly ahead of her Republican challenger Thom Tillis, despite recent polling showing a race that is all tied up. PPD tracking of the North Carolina Senate race currently shows Tillis pulling ahead with a small, yet week-long 1-point lead. The survey results have moved against Hagan is the final weeks, though the campaign disputes the recent numbers.
“Our internals show Sen. Hagan holding on but it’s close,” the aid contended. “We just can’t afford to have anyone else make a mistake, even if it’s a small one.”
