President Barack Obama plans on spending the last full week of the midterm campaign season appearing at public events for Democratic gubernatorial candidates, according to a White House official.
Obama will help candidates in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Maine, Connecticut, Maryland and Illinois, all states that Obama won twice, and all containing a governor who is in a competitive midterm race.
Only one Senate candidate, Michigan's Gary Peters, will receive Obama's support, said the Associated Press, a far cry from the past six months of raising money for House and Senate Democrats.
"But governor's races are a rare, bright spot for Democrats this year, when historical trends and a rough map are working against them in Congress," reported AP. "Democrats could see a net gain of a handful of governor's mansions - if their voters are revved up enough to turn out."
"The cost of a presidential visit makes it inefficient for Obama to campaign for individual House candidates. But Obama's near-absence from the Senate fight this year reflects a bitter reality for the president: Even as his party faces the potential loss of the Senate, there's almost no state where the Democrat thinks being seen with Obama in public is helpful."
In the final week of the campaign, Obama will travel to Milwaukee to help Mary Burke in her efforts to unseat Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a 2016 presidential hopeful. In Detriot, Obama will campaign on behalf of Mark Schauer, and in Philadelphia, Obama will support Tom Wolf. Mike Michaud of Portlan, Maine, will also receive Obama's support, according to a White House official who demanded to be kept him anonymous.
Obama postponed his first public midterm political event today so that he could meet with top Cabinet officials about the Ebola outbreak. He was scheduled to attend a fundraiser in New Jersey and a campaign rally in Connecticut.
