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democrats in full revolt against their leadership

Earlier this year it became clear that democrats would be running away from Obama as the election neared:

Vocal opposition to the administration’s policies has been another tactic used by Democrats. In his post-speech comments, Arkansas’s Mark Pryor criticized the president for his stances on gun-control and the Keystone XL pipeline. Natalie Tennant, who is trying to hold West Virginia’s Jay Rockefeller’s seat for Democrats, has urged the president to “rethink” his stance on energy and called him “wrong on coal.” “I will fight him or anyone else who wants to take our coal jobs,” she said.

But hesitancy to be associated with Obama is not limited to Republican-leaning states. After Tuesday’s speech, Mark Udall from the purple state of Colorado refused to say whether he wanted the president to stump for him. Wisconsin’s Democratic candidate for governor, Mary Burke, who is challenging Republican Scott Walker, skipped out on the president’s visit to the state on Thursday.

The ensuing months have seen matters only get worse. Joe Trippi says Obama has become a drag on the democrat party:

MEGYN KELLY: David Axelrod comes out and says that was a mistake. Was it and how big of one?

JOE TRIPPI, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I agree with him. Big mistake. I mean — the president is a drag on Democrats. It’s the case. He can’t run away from it. Democrats are trying to localize these elections, make it between them and their opponent, not between them and Obama and their opponent. And this just walked in a gift to the Republicans. It really was.

It’s gotten to the point that democrats called on a white President to save them from the black President.

It may be too late for running away from Obama now:

Likewise, a lot of conservative Democrats — including about half the House’s “Blue Dog” coalition — who had voted against Obama’s main priorities got swept out in a huge Republican wave in the 2010 midterm elections.

When a candidate tries to separate himself from his party’s leadership, he’s assuming that the party’s core supporters will understand that he needs to do it — that the checks will keep arriving and the activists will keep knocking on doors. But there’s always the risk of demoralization.

Obama is so toxic that democrats in Hawaii abandoned a plan to name a park after him:

Two Honolulu city councilmen have dropped plans to rename a popular beach for President Barack Obama.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports Councilman Stanley Chang and Council Chairman Ernie Martin decided to withdraw the proposal after hearing from the public.

The councilmen last week introduced a resolution to change the name of Sandy Beach Park to President Barack Obama Sandy Beach Park.

The beach is a popular for bodysurfing on Oahu’s east side. It was a favorite for the president as he grew up. He bodysurfed there while on vacation during his 2008 campaign.

Martin says in a statement that he heard historic and cultural sensitivity concerns from the community about the name change.

A President is frequently unpopular in his sixth year, but what makes this year interesting is that democrats are now turning on both Pelosi and Reid. “Centrist” House democrats (you know, the kind who vote with Obama and want you to forget that) have adopted an anti-Pelosi message:

Facing tough election contests in November, a handful of centrist Democrats are targeting Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in hopes the message will resound with voters put off by the polarizing House minority leader.

Pelosi, a San Francisco liberal who has led the Democrats since 2003, is no stranger to demonization efforts, as Republicans have long used her image in bids to undermine Democratic opponents on the campaign trail.

Some Democrats have adopted a similar strategy this election year, highlighting the degree to which Pelosi’s national prominence and left-leaning politics are seen as a heavy liability in some swing districts with a heavy conservative bent.

But they’re still taking the cash from Pelosi:

Republican strategists have a decidedly different take, accusing Pelosi’s Democratic critics of hypocrisy for attacking the minority leader while simultaneously accepting campaign funding from the party apparatus she represents.

“These Democrats are complete hypocrites,” Daniel Scarpinato, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Wednesday in an email. “Unless they are willing to give up the millions in outside spending Nancy Pelosi is dumping into their races, then these ads are a complete lie.”

Harry Reid has also become a target for desperate dems:

At a debate Tuesday, Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner was asked by moderator Chuck Todd if Harry Reid is the best person to lead the Senate Democrats.

A central argument of Warner’s campaign has been that he has been a bipartisan senator, willing to take shots at Republicans and Democrats.

“Listen, I think we could perhaps do better in both parties moving forward,” Warner replied, essentially dodging the question.

“I take that as a ‘no,’” Todd quipped.

Warner isn’t the only Democrat who has been recently unwilling to offer support for Reid as leader.

The Washington Free Beacon reported last week that Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, one of the most vulnerable Democrats running this year, told donors during a closed-door event that he would like to see Reid replaced as leader.

And we’ve still got the better part of a month to go.

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