WASHINGTON (AP) — A nod here. A nudge there. And the weight of the White House backing them up.
President Barack Obama hasn’t been shy about choosing sides to prevent Democratic Party primaries, which is something like a parent picking the favorite child in a sibling squabble — only with arguably higher stakes.
With midterm elections looming next fall, the president is putting his popularity and fundraising prowess behind Senate incumbents in Pennsylvania, Colorado and New York.
In a more surprising twist, the White House also made it known that it’s concerned about New York Gov. David Paterson’s bid for a full term. Or, more specifically, that it’s worried that an unpopular governor could not just lose but also drag down the ticket, putting Senate and House seats in jeopardy.
The implied — if not direct message: Don’t run.
Not that Obama had anything negative to say Monday — at least in public — when he traveled to Albany, N.Y. The president called Paterson “a wonderful man” during an unrelated appearance at Hudson Valley Community College after the governor greeted Obama when Air Force One landed.
But Obama also publicly recognized Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic state attorney general who has long eyed the gubernatorial office once held by his father, Mario Cuomo. “Andrew’s doing great work enforcing the laws that need to be enforced,” Obama said as he cast a warm smile toward Cuomo.
A full year before the 2010 elections, the president clearly has embraced his other job, party standard-bearer. To varying degrees, every White House puts its hands in political races. But presidents before Obama didn’t face a 24/7 news culture that seemingly has the spotlight shining much brighter on the White House — and presidential maneuvering in electoral politics.
“It was always there but it was more under the table so it was not always as obvious the White House was getting involved,” said the Brookings Institution’s Stephen Hess, who worked in the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations and was an adviser to Presidents Ford and Carter.
“It’s a dangerous game that a president plays,” Hess added.
Chief among the risks: Obama’s influence could be questioned if his chosen candidates lose.
Outwardly, Obama seems cool to party housekeeping chores, among them raising money, recruiting candidates and clearing the political field for them if needed. He is careful not to appear overtly partisan unless it’s in his best interest politically. He prefers to publicly portray himself as almost nonpartisan as he talks of the need to end partisan gridlock in Washington in favor of bipartisan solution-making.
Yet, he’s still a shrewd politician who loves to win, and he proved that repeatedly during the presidential campaign.
Now Obama wants to ensure that he protects his comfortable Democratic majorities in Congress as best he can. Historically, the party in power loses seats in Congress during a president’s second year, and Obama wants to minimize losses. Republicans are targeting more than two dozen House seats held by Democrats in districts Republican John McCain won last year in the presidential race. Democrats are in better shape in the Senate, where a wave of GOP retirements has lessened the prospects of Democratic defeats.
Still, party primaries are undesirable. They are costly in both dollars and manpower, and can leave the eventual nominee severely damaged heading into a general election.
Thus, Obama has used his sway to prevent primaries where he can. The results are mixed.
He was quick to announce his support for Arlen Specter when the Pennsylvania senator abandoned the GOP in April to become a Democrat. The White House hoped the president’s backing would dissuade other Democrats from entering the race. But Rep. Joe Sestak mounted a challenge anyway. Obama ramped up his involvement in the race last week with a fundraiser for Specter.
Also last week, the president endorsed Michael Bennet for a Colorado Senate seat, one day after challenger Andrew Romanoff, a former state House speaker, entered the race. Bennet is seeking his first full term, having been appointed to the seat after Obama chose then-Sen. Ken Salazar to head the Interior Department.
Obama also worked to clear the field for Kirsten Gillibrand in New York, another senator seeking a full term after being appointed to what was Hillary Rodham Clinton’s seat before Clinton was named Secretary of State. Reps. Steve Israel and Carolyn Maloney decided not to run after calls from Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, respectively, made it clear the White House was entirely behind Gillibrand.
The White House sent the opposite message to Paterson about the New York governor’s race, Democrats say, largely because of the potentially disastrous trickle-down effect if he were to lead the ticket. Gillibrand will be running statewide for the first time, and five, maybe six of New York’s House incumbents are considered vulnerable.
Paterson ascended after Eliot Spitzer’s downfall but the new governor’s tenure has been rocky and his job-approval rating low. Compounding the woes, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is seriously considering running for the Republican nomination, which could endanger the Democrats’ hold on the governor’s office and numbers in the state legislature. Lawmakers elected next fall will lead the every-decade redrawing of congressional districts in 2011.