Obama Flies In to Give Sen. Boxer a Boost

The president didn’t mince words Monday during a Los Angeles fundraiser for Sen. Barbara Boxer’s bid for re-election, warning “she might not win this thing.” One poll has Boxer about even with the competition, which has yet to be decided by state Republicans.

AP reports that Boxer brought up the tea party movement and a lack of corresponding enthusiasm on her side of the spectrum. She probably still has the edge—she is the incumbent, after all—but it must be alarming for Democrats that one of the Left Coast’s most popular liberals is feeling the heat.

The big guns are needed elsewhere, in districts and states where the Democrats are really struggling. 

Of course if the economy is the big issue in the 2010 elections, then it makes sense that races in states where the housing crisis went nuclear (California, Nevada, Florida) and unemployment is running high are giving incumbents reason to worry. It’s not necessarily a Democratic problem, either. Look at the political hurricane that developed in Gov. Charlie Crist’s Florida.  —PZS

AP via Google:

“I don’t want anyone here taking this for granted,” [Obama] said at a reception at the California Science Center, the first of a trio of fundraisers Monday night for Boxer and the Democratic National Committee.

“Unless she’s got that support she might not win this thing, and I don’t think that’s an acceptable outcome. So I want everyone to work hard,” the president said.

All incumbents face an uphill battle because of the economy, Obama said, though he insisted it’s turning around.

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White House / Pete Souza, File

President Barack Obama salutes military personnel during an earlier trip.