Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., who hasn’t endorsed President Barack Obama, declined to say Thursday whether he indeed supports the president for re-election.
A reporter from Wilmington, N.C., TV station WECT asked McIntyre twice for his thoughts about Obama and was rebuffed each time.
At a local prayer breakfast, McIntyre said he wasn't doing "political interviews, [because] it wouldn't be appropriate." When asked to comment again later in the day, McIntyre said, "Not today."
The National Republican Congressional Committee didn’t have much trouble making hay out of McIntyre’s reticence. It sent a video of his interaction with the reporter to the media with a statement saying McIntyre "won't be able to hide from his record of supporting President Obama's failed economic policies that have led to North Carolina's high unemployment,"
The Hill reports.
McIntyre, a conservative Blue Dog Democrat, faces a difficult re-election race after the Republican State Legislature shifted his district, making it more Republican than it already was. Republican presidential candidate John McCain won 58 percent of the vote in his new district, compared to 52 percent in the old one.
McIntyre actually hasn’t been a strong ally of Obama, voting against the healthcare reform law. And he was one of only two Democrats to vote in favor of repealing Obamacare. Ironically, though, he will probably need Obama to generate a strong African-American turnout in his district to gain re-election, according to The Hill.
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