According to a statement and an email released by Andrew Romanoff, the White House Jim Messina kinda, sorta, suggested that Romanoff pursue an administration job rather than challenge Senator Michael Bennet in the Colorado Democratic primary for Senate. Politico:
In his statement, Romanoff said that in September 2009, shortly after the news media first reported his plans to run for the Senate, he received a call from Messina. "Mr. Messina informed me that the White House would support Sen. Bennet. I informed Mr. Messina that I had made my decision to run," the statement said.
"Mr. Messina also suggested three positions that might be available to me were I not pursuing the Senate race. He added that he could not guarantee my appointment to any of these positions. At no time was I promised a job, nor did I request Mr. Messina's assistance in obtaining one," Romanoff said.
Later that day, Romanoff said he received an email from Mr. Messina containing descriptions of three positions. "I later left him a voicemail informing him that I would not change course," Romanoff said. "I have not spoken with Mr. Messina, nor have I discussed this matter with anyone else in the White House, since then."
I gotta say "ouch" for the White House on this one. It will now look like the White House made a regular business of suggesting administration positions to Democrats who were considering primary challenges to incumbent Democratic members of Congress. It will look like that, because it was like that.
There are some caveats here. For one, Romanoff was actively pursuing administration positions during much of 2009, so it is not like this was an entirely unsolicited suggestion from the White House: Also, Romanoff himself says that he was not actually promised a job by the White House. Further, the White House says that Democrats in Colorado were actively promoting him for administration positions.
Whether this will hurt the Obama administration is based on two factors. First, is this a story that is getting enough play for a meaningful amount of voters to actually notice? Second, do people actually care?
I am not as convinced as many professional commentators that this makes Obama look bad to his supporters. Other than political junkies, almost no one gives a shit about process stories. Further, almost no political junkies are both Obama supporters and naïve enough to feel burned by transactional politics like this. I just don't see what part of the Obama coalition actually feels surprised and upset at Obama over this.
However, I am convinced that this is not helping Obama. As I noted in the post below this, Obama's net approval rating dropped 3.5% in May, even though more jobs were created in May than in any month, like ever. It seems possible, even likely, that stories about the White House trying to clear primary fields, and the BP leak, are wiping away any potential political gain for the improving employment situation.
The lesson for the White House here should be to stay out of primaries. These stories are costing them a lot of news cycles, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars they sunk into Arlen Specter's campaign. Further, these primary challenges are actually helpful to the administration's legislative agenda, as they do a lot more to prevent defections on big votes from Specter and Bennet than any backroom deal ever will. If the White House had just let these campaigns play out, they would be a lot better off right now.
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