Rhode Island Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio isn’t particularly happy that President Barack Obama has declined to endorse him. “He can take his endorsement and really shove it, as far as I'm concerned,” Caprio says, according to the Providence Journal,
Politico reports.
The White House said Sunday Obama won’t be endorsing anyone in the race. That stance may owe to the fact that Caprio is running against independent Lincoln Chafee, who served in the Senate as a Republican until 2006.
Chafee bolted the GOP shortly before the Rhode Island Democratic primary in 2008, and endorsed Obama for president. So Obama’s silence now is likely a payback for that support.
Obama is coming to Rhode Island this week for fundraising purposes. "Now he's coming into Rhode Island treating us like an ATM machine," Caprio said.
Obama's lack of endorsement disappointed Nathan Daschle, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, who lamented: “Frank Caprio has spent his career fighting for the values of the Democratic Party, and I think he deserves the full support of our party and its leaders. While this might not be what the White House intended, the president’s refusal to endorse a fellow Democrat in the worst environment since 1994 sends a bad message to everyone who’s working to get Democrats elected this year."
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