Surging Georgia Democratic Senate candidate afraid to be associated with toxic Obama

It was the comment – or lack thereof — which forced some to declare Kentucky Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes had “disqualified” herself, and heralded the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s decision to abandon their only chance to unseat an incumbent Senate Republican in November. Democrats in red states are desperate to avoid being linked to the deeply unpopular head of their party, President Barack Obama, and now Georgia Senate candidate Michelle Nunn has been caught in the trap which derailed Grimes’ candidacy.

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This clip, via The Weekly Standard, is likely to dog the surging Georgia Senate candidate for the remainder of the campaign:

“Ms. Nunn, did you vote for President Obama in 2008 and 2012?” a campaign tracker probed the Democratic standard-bearer.

“Would you leave her alone,” a churlish member of her entourage replied. Nunn smiled, but refused to answer the question, and soon took a hard left turn in order to avoid the tracker’s camera.

The Weekly Standard has more:

“Yes, of course, yes, he’s the president…he’s done great things…healthcare,” another supporter can be heard telling the tracker.

The tracker asked Nunn the hard-hitting question at an early voting venue, the Adamsville Recreation Center, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Nunn is a strong recruit for Democrats. She enjoys bipartisan credibility, having served as the CEO of George H. W. Bush’s Points of Light foundation. She has a famous last name, the daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA). She has received some powerful local support, including a symbolic donation from baseball Hall of Famer and former Atlanta Brave Hank Aaron.

Nunn is the best candidate Georgia Democrats could have hoped for in this or any cycle, but the GOP-leaning fundamental conditions which have sunk Democratic electoral prospects nationwide have proven difficult for her to overcome. Recently, however, polls are beginning to show Nunn surging.

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A Survey USA poll released on Wednesday showed Nunn leading Republican Senate candidate David Perdue by 3 points, at 48 to 45 percent support. That follows a local WSB-TV survey which found the race tied at 46 percent for both Nunn and Perdue.

But Nunn’s latest slip may prove as damaging to her political prospects as did her Kentucky counterpart. It’s inexplicable that she would refuse to offer any answer, especially considering the deluge of free advice the pundit class doled out to Grimes in the wake of her damaging non-answer to the question, “Who did you vote for?” Every Democrat running a competitive race in a red state should have learned from Grimes’ mistake. The fact that Nunn apparently has not is a bad sign for Democrats pinning their hopes on Georgia as the last remaining state where the majority party might still pick up a Senate seat.

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David Strom 9:40 AM | November 22, 2024
Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 21, 2024
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