When an unpopular president faces a difficult midterm election, candidates from his party tend to avoid him and try to focus on local issues, but the nationalization of politics has made this strategy increasingly difficult. Instead, some red-state Democrats are going out of their way to talk about President Obama more than other Senate candidates from their party — and not always in a good way. CONT.
Brendan Nyhan (Dartmouth), New York Times
Recent polls: President Obama