In the three Congressional races decided since Barack Obama defeated John McCain on November 4, the president-elect has kept his distance from the Democratic candidates.
While Obama did lend Georgia Senate candidate Jim Martin some of his campaign staff, and cut radio ads for both Martin and Louisiana congressional hopeful Paul Carmouche, he has made no personal appearances in any of the races, even as his party stood a chance of gaining a filibuster-proof 60 seat majority in the Senate, and expanding what's currently a 20-seat advantage in the House.
While there was little recent polling, Carmouche had led Republican John Fleming through much of the race to replace retiring GOP Rep. Jim McCrery in Louisiana's 4th congressional district. On Saturday, though, the Democrat fell just 356 votes short.
Even more surprising was the defeat of Democratic Congressman William Jefferson, who was widely believed to the frontrunner in his bid for a tenth term in the House, despite a 16-count corruption indictment.
Both Louisiana races had their primary and general election dates pushed back to allow the districts to recover from the damage caused by Hurricane Gustav, and both Democratic candidates sought to tie themselves to the high flying president-elect in the days following his historic win over GOP nominee John McCain.
Jefferson did not seek Obama's assistance or communicate with the campaign or transition, but the scandal-plagued Democrat touted his ties to the president-elect in his appeal to voters. His campaign Web site makes repeated mention to Obama, and Jefferson did the same in his media and campaign appearances.
Carmouche, who needed black voters in turn out in high numbers, asked Obama's staff to provide a boost in the post-election day race, which are historically decided by base-turnout and are less swayed by national political trends.
Obama did not come down to Louisiana, make a statement on Carmouche's behalf or cut a television ad. The president-elect did appear in a radio ad for Carmouche, but while he listed some of Carmouche's accomplishments as Caddo Parish district attorney, he said little that wasn't in the candidate's campaign bio and made no mention of his Republican opponent.
While Obama campaign manager David Plouffe wrote a fundraising email for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee urging donors to contribute to Camouche's campaign, the email was not sent to Obama's massive donor list.
In Georgia, historic black turnout spurred by Obama's candidacy — and the millions spent by his campaign in advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts — helped propel Martin to an improbably strong run that kept incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) just shy of crossing the 50 percent threshold, causing an automatic runoff.
On November 4, with Obama on the ticket, a record 35 percent of voters in Georgia were black, most of whom voted a straight Democratic ticket. Knowing he needed a similar atypical electorate to win the December 2 runoff, Martin made pleas to Obama to come to Georgia for a campaign event. The same dynamic, though, meant that Obama risked losing political capital even before taking office if Martin were to lose despite having the president-elect campaign for him.
If Franken emerges victorious from the ongoing recount in Minnesota, a Martin win would have given the president-elect a filibuster proof majority in the Senate to go with his powerful majority in the House.
While GOP stars including John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin stumped for Chambliss, Obama cut a radio spot — which again made no mention of the Republican — and sent campaign staff to Georgia, but never appeared himself.
In the runoff, the Democrat, who ran nearly even with Chambliss a month earlier when Obama was on the ticket, lost by 15 points and over 300,000 votes.
While Obama did lend Georgia Senate candidate Jim Martin some of his campaign staff, and cut radio ads for both Martin and Louisiana congressional hopeful Paul Carmouche, he has made no personal appearances in any of the races, even as his party stood a chance of gaining a filibuster-proof 60 seat majority in the Senate, and expanding what's currently a 20-seat advantage in the House.
While there was little recent polling, Carmouche had led Republican John Fleming through much of the race to replace retiring GOP Rep. Jim McCrery in Louisiana's 4th congressional district. On Saturday, though, the Democrat fell just 356 votes short.
Even more surprising was the defeat of Democratic Congressman William Jefferson, who was widely believed to the frontrunner in his bid for a tenth term in the House, despite a 16-count corruption indictment.
Both Louisiana races had their primary and general election dates pushed back to allow the districts to recover from the damage caused by Hurricane Gustav, and both Democratic candidates sought to tie themselves to the high flying president-elect in the days following his historic win over GOP nominee John McCain.
Jefferson did not seek Obama's assistance or communicate with the campaign or transition, but the scandal-plagued Democrat touted his ties to the president-elect in his appeal to voters. His campaign Web site makes repeated mention to Obama, and Jefferson did the same in his media and campaign appearances.
Carmouche, who needed black voters in turn out in high numbers, asked Obama's staff to provide a boost in the post-election day race, which are historically decided by base-turnout and are less swayed by national political trends.
Obama did not come down to Louisiana, make a statement on Carmouche's behalf or cut a television ad. The president-elect did appear in a radio ad for Carmouche, but while he listed some of Carmouche's accomplishments as Caddo Parish district attorney, he said little that wasn't in the candidate's campaign bio and made no mention of his Republican opponent.
While Obama campaign manager David Plouffe wrote a fundraising email for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee urging donors to contribute to Camouche's campaign, the email was not sent to Obama's massive donor list.
In Georgia, historic black turnout spurred by Obama's candidacy — and the millions spent by his campaign in advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts — helped propel Martin to an improbably strong run that kept incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) just shy of crossing the 50 percent threshold, causing an automatic runoff.
On November 4, with Obama on the ticket, a record 35 percent of voters in Georgia were black, most of whom voted a straight Democratic ticket. Knowing he needed a similar atypical electorate to win the December 2 runoff, Martin made pleas to Obama to come to Georgia for a campaign event. The same dynamic, though, meant that Obama risked losing political capital even before taking office if Martin were to lose despite having the president-elect campaign for him.
If Franken emerges victorious from the ongoing recount in Minnesota, a Martin win would have given the president-elect a filibuster proof majority in the Senate to go with his powerful majority in the House.
While GOP stars including John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin stumped for Chambliss, Obama cut a radio spot — which again made no mention of the Republican — and sent campaign staff to Georgia, but never appeared himself.
In the runoff, the Democrat, who ran nearly even with Chambliss a month earlier when Obama was on the ticket, lost by 15 points and over 300,000 votes.
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