Barack Obama’s Name Conspicuously Absent From Clinton/Heitkamp Event In Fargo
I’m sure we’ll all be treated today to a healthy round of Democrats telling us Heidi Heitkamp is going to win because Bill Clinton, but something kind of interesting happened at the Fargo Civic Center last night.
It wasn’t that Democrats got a packed house – of course they were going to fill a smallish venue in one of the state’s most liberal cities to see a high-profile Democrat like Clinton – it was that nobody mentioned Barack Obama.
Which is surprising given that Clinton is a) Barack Obama’s top surrogate and b) only in Fargo as a detour from his trip to Minnesota to shore up Obama’s flagging numbers there.
It’s like Obama, for North Dakota Democrats, is Lord Voldemort, He Who Must Not Be Named.
Fargo Forum reporter Marino Eccher noted the careful stepping Democrats had to do to avoid mentioning the President they’re all voting for:
One name you’ve yet to hear tonight: Obama. Couple shirts in crowd, but not part of the stump speeches
— Marino Eccher (@MarinoEccher) October 30, 2012
On pipeline: “I’m gonna talk to the next president of the United States.” No names – needs Romney ticket-splitters #ClintonFGO
— Marino Eccher (@MarinoEccher) October 30, 2012
For what it’s worth, Harry Reid did get one mention from Clinton, but only by way of suggesting that Heitkamp won’t be anything like him (even though she’s on record saying she’ll vote to keep Reid as Majority Leader in the Senate).
On attacks likening Heitkamp to Harry Reid, he goes reverse Bentsen: “I know Harry Reid. He is a friend of mine. Heidi is not Harry Reid”
— Marino Eccher (@MarinoEccher) October 30, 2012
This highlights the absurdity, not to mention dishonesty, at the center of Heitkamp’s campaign. She was an unreserved Obamacare supporter…before she ran for the Senate. She’s an Obama voter…who is too afraid to mention Obama’s name on the campaign trail. She says she’ll be a bi-partisan leader, but like a good loyal partisan she’s already promised to vote to keep Harry Reid as the Senate’s Majority Leader.
That Heitkamp is losing this race, per the independent polling, is directly attributable to voters not buying this schtick.
Meanwhile, an SAB reader put together this parody of Clinton, “I’ll Go Anywhere.”
