Dims eating their own young.

Obama won’t endorse Caprio during R.I. visit

07:52 AM EDT on Monday, October 25, 2010

By JOHN E. MULLIGAN

Journal WASHINGTON BUREAU

President Obama will not endorse the Democratic candidate for governor, Frank T. Caprio, when he comes to Rhode Island to support other Democratic candidates, the White House said Sunday.

The president’s decision “is a victory for Linc Chafee,” the Republican-turned-independent who is Caprio’s opponent in the race for governor, said Chafee spokesman Mike Trainor, who said he was quoting Chafee’s own stated view. Former Republican Senator Chafee endorsed Mr. Obama for president in 2008.

Caprio was unaware that the president would not endorse him until his campaign was told by a news reporter, according to his campaign manager, Xay Khamsyvoravong. Khamsyvoravong said Caprio is not embarrassed that he did not get a courtesy call from the White House before the president’s decision was made public.

Will the Democratic president’s decision not to endorse his party’s candidate hurt Caprio in what has been a neck-and-neck race for the governorship? “We don’t see the president as a factor in our race,” Khamsyvoravong said.

He did say, however, that it’s an advantage for Caprio to have been invited to join the president on his visit to a Woonsocket factory, a Democratic rally and fundraiser at the Rhode Island Convention Center and a second fundraiser at the home of a Providence businessman.

“He’s excited” about accompanying the president, Khamsyvoravong said of Caprio. The fundraisers will benefit Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, the Democratic candidate for the Congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, and the Democratic House campaign organization..

But the president’s decision not to support Caprio during such a high-profile race may not be universally popular among Democrats. Kennedy said emphatically in an interview last week, “Democrats are a team,” and Caprio is a crucial member of the Democratic team in Rhode Island.

“As far as I’m concerned, Frank will be front and center” at the Convention Center, “whether or not he gets a big shout-out, or sort of a stifled shout-out” from Mr. Obama.

As it developed Sunday, there will be no presidential shout-out for Caprio — at least not one with an explicit endorsement. After days of speculation about the possibility that Mr. Obama might give the Chafee candidacy a boost by denying his blessing to fellow-Democrat Caprio, White House Deputy Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a conference call with reporters Sunday, “He will not be making an endorsement in the race tomorrow.”

Psaki was asked specifically whether Mr. Obama was staying neutral because of Chafee’s assistance for Mr. Obama in 2008. She did not give a direct reply. She said, “He isn’t planning on making an endorsement in the race tomorrow. He’s obviously been campaigning across the country for a number of candidates. He is going to Rhode Island tomorrow because he has been campaigning for and raising money for a variety of campaigns, and this is one of the places the DNC (Democratic National Committee) felt it was important for him to visit.”

Was there no feeling that the race is razor-thin and his endorsement could make a difference for Democrat Caprio? Psaki was asked. “He’s not planning on making an endorsement in the race tomorrow,” she replied.

Mr. Obama has campaigned recently with a number of Democratic candidates in other states with close races for governor, including Jerry Brown in California and Dan Onorato in Pennsylvania. The president campaigned on Saturday for Minnesota’s Democratic candidate for governor, Mark Dayton.

Caprio’s campaign manager asserted that Caprio will not feel awkward in the president’s entourage under the circumstances.

Khamsyvoravong said independent Chafee — not Caprio — is the one being snubbed by Mr. Obama. He reasoned that it was “odd” for Mr. Obama not to have invited Chafee to the Providence Democratic fundraiser, hosted by Arnold “Buff” Chace, a longtime Chafee supporter.

So, is that a bug or a feature?

Obama's endorsement of O'Malley is an emabarssment of generalities ("O'Malley is bringing jobs, he supports education...") many of which aren't even true.

Why did you bold Mr. Obama?

(10-25-2010 09:24 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Why did you bold Mr. Obama?

I suspect is has to do with the disrespect for the office he holds. He may be the worst president we've ever had but he is still the President of The United States and should be addressed as such.

Because when Bush II was prez. and they started addressing him, Mr. Bush, it was downhill from there. Same with Clinton. It was Khamsyvoravong contempt that I was displaying.

I believe that in the USA, after the first reference or communication in a written piece of the title "President," that it is stylisticly acceptable to to further refer to the President as "Mr".

But I do understand the seemingly disrespecting / pointed jab of the "Mr" reference....

Someone asked me if I would shake the hand of the Mr Obama if I met him. I said of course I would, and I would give my tone all the respect all that the Office of the President deserves.

(10-25-2010 02:14 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  I believe that in the USA, after the first reference or communication in a written piece of the title "President," that it is stylisticly acceptable to to further refer to the President as "Mr".

But I do understand the seemingly disrespecting / pointed jab of the "Mr" reference....

Someone asked me if I would shake the hand of the Mr Obama if I met him. I said of course I would, and I would give my tone all the respect all that the Office of the President deserves.

this.

i'ev heard him called mr. obama by all forms of media across the political spectrum

I kind of like this liberal democrat

(10-25-2010 11:39 AM)moe24 Wrote:  

(10-25-2010 09:24 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Why did you bold Mr. Obama?

I suspect is has to do with the disrespect for the office he holds. He may be the worst president we've ever had but he is still the President of The United States and should be addressed as such.

Respect is earned. Does winning an election deserve respect or do we base it on his actions? The fact is, he has no respect for us and thinks we're too stupid to do anything on our own.

So much for the pleasantries, Mr. Obama

Democrat Frank Caprio Says Obama Can 'Shove It' for Not Endorsing Him

Caprio at Warwick Mall stands by telling Obama 'shove it'

This coarse election season, which seems to keep outdoing itself in that regard, has taken another crass turn. Frank Caprio, the Democratic candidate for Rhode Island governor, says President Obama can "shove it" for not endorsing him.

Obama will be visiting Rhode Island on Monday to promote his small business bill and lend a hand in Democratic fundraising, but the White House said Obama would not endorse anyone in the governor's race. After hearing that news, Caprio told radio station WPRO early Monday that Obama can "take his endorsement and shove it." He called the decision "Washington insider politics at its worst," the Associated Press reported.

Caprio faces Lincoln Chafee, an independent and former Republican senator who backed Obama for president in 2008, and Republican John Robitaille.

According to the latest Rasmussen poll, Chafee holds a seven-point lead.

The White House wouldn't comment on Caprio's remarks, the AP said.

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Snubbed RI Democrat Says Obama Can Take His Endorsement and "Shove It"

by April Girouard | October 25, 2010

President Obama Monday is heading to Rhode Island to visit a manufacturing facility and make remarks at a fundraiser, but Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio is hardly rolling out the welcome mat.

"He can take his endorsement and really shove it," Caprio, who recently discovered the president will not be supporting him, told Providence radio station WPRO Monday morning.

Caprio says he was told by a reporter Sunday night that the president would not be endorsing him. A campaign spokesman for former Senator Lincoln Chafee told the Providence Journal that the lack of endorsement was a "victory" for the Republican-turned-independent, who endorsed President Obama in 2008.

"I've never asked President Obama for his endorsement, and what's going on here is really Washington insider politics at its worst," Caprio said.

The president has not officially endorsed a candidate in the race, in which Caprio is leading by a razor-thin edge of 1.7 points in the latest RealClearPolitics average.

White House Deputy Director of Communications Jen Psaki, when asked in a Sunday night conference call whether the president's Rhode Island trip could give Caprio a much-needed boost, only responded, "He's not planning on making an endorsement in the race tomorrow."

Caprio says he had been "encouraged" when he found out from the White House that Obama would be discussing jobs at the American Cord & Webbing facility in Woonsocket, RI, but would not say whether he had planned to attend the event, only noting his disgust at finding out about the endorsement snub "at the eleventh hour" and calling it "a backhanded way" for the White House to pursue its own agenda.

Campaign spokesman Nick Hemond told Fox News Monday morning he didn't yet know if Caprio would be appearing in Woonsocket.

In any event, Caprio says, if the president had a chance to gain the loyalty of Rhode Islanders, he missed it back in March.

"We had one of the worst floods in the history of the United States a few months back, and President Obama didn't even do a flyover of Rhode Island like President Bush did when New Orleans had their problems," he said. "He ignored us, and now he's coming to into Rhode Island and treating us like an ATM machine."

"What I'm saying to President Obama very clearly is I'll wear it as a badge of honor and a badge of courage that he doesn't want to endorse me as a Democrat," he said, citing his own focus on job creation, "because I am a different kind of Democrat."

Classless.

Maybe Obama will invite him to the WH for a beer.