PRESIDENT BARACK Obama was on the campaign trail yesterday for embattled Senate majority leader Harry Reid, entering the fray of one of the most closely watched races in next month’s congressional elections.
In Nevada, a state with the nation’s highest unemployment rate and the highest rate of home foreclosures, Reid, a Democrat, is slightly trailing Republican Sharron Angle with just 11 days to go before the elections.
A defeat for the Senate’s highest-ranking Democrat would be a major blow for Obama, who worked closely with Reid and other congressional leaders to craft last year’s $814 billion (€584 billion) economic stimulus package and reforms of the healthcare and financial regulatory systems. “Senator Reid is somebody who has obviously done a lot to ensure our success in the United States Senate; [who] was a supporter, somebody who urged the president to run very early,” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. “So obviously there’s a lot of respect for what he’s been able to do over the past several years. And it’s a very important race.”
On a five-state campaign blitz in the US West, Obama flew on Thursday from Seattle to San Francisco to help campaign for candidates in California.
They included incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer, who is facing a tough challenge from Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
In another high-profile California race, veteran Democratic politician Jerry Brown is vying for governor with former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman.
Frustrations with the economy’s weakness that are hurting Democratic candidates across the country are even more pronounced in Nevada and the Senate race there is one of a handful that could determine whether Democrats hold onto their majority in the Senate.
Many pollsters predict Republicans will garner enough seats to take control of the House of Representatives, making it all the more crucial to Democrats that they maintain their majority in the 100-member Senate.