Barone: Dem lawmakers duck party convention

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The two major parties' national conventions ordinarily are gatherings of officeholders from across the nation. But as the Democratic National Convention, the 46th in a series that goes back to 1832, assembles in Charlotte, there are likely to be a lot of members of Congress missing.

 

 

Their numbers include North Carolina Rep. Larry Kissell, whose district has included much of metropolitan Charlotte. Republican redistricters removed many heavily Democratic precincts, and he evidently doesn't want to be associated with the Obama-Biden ticket, which is highly unlikely to carry his new district.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., whose 2010 campaign featured an ad showing him shooting a bullet through a copy of the Democrats' cap-and-trade bill, won't be there this year as he seeks a full term. Neither will Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., whose state came close to voting for Barack Obama in 2008, but is expected to vote strongly for Mitt Romney this year.

 

 

House members who will be absent include David Loebsack and Leonard Boswell of Iowa, which Obama carried easily in 2008, but where he spent four days campaigning in recent weeks -- a sign his campaign believes he has been slipping there.