DNC Chairman Tim Kaine said this morning he won’t help Democratic candidates with no chance at winning or those who will knock it out of the park with ease, but even though Delaware’s Democratic Senate nominee Chris Coons is ahead by nearly 20 points in the TPM Poll Average, President Obama and Vice President Biden will hold a major rally in the state tomorrow.
Kaine told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor that his philosophy is, “I’m not going to give a courtesy gift to a person who is going to win and I’m not going to give s sympathy gift to a person who is going to lose.”
“We have to make those decisions, they are never easy to make but usually candidates understand that,” Kaine said.
TPM asked Kaine after the breakfast why Obama and Biden would devote their time to a state where Coons hold such a strong lead over Republican nominee Christine O’Donnell.
“We are not complacent,” Kaine told TPM.
“I don’t make his schedule … he’s doing events for tons of folks,” Kaine said. But, “We’d be foolish to take Delaware for granted, she did beat Mike Castle.”
Kaine said he’s feeling more optimistic about the party’s chances next month, thanks in part to a strong get-out-the-voter operation and tea party strength pulling Republicans to the right. He said Democrats have more money devoted to turnout operation such as phone banking while the Republicans are investing in television ads.
“I already see it working in polls,” Kaine said, citing both statewide races in California looking brighter for Democrats, Ohio candidates looking like they have a better chance and a Congressional generic holding steady at basically tied with Republicans.
Kaine said earlier this year a Democratic senator in Kentucky would have rated a “zero” chance. Now, Kaine said, it’s possible for Democrat Jack Conway to beat tea partier Rand Paul, thanks in part to a competitive mayor’s race in Louisville Kaine thinks will drive up turnout.
Kaine told reporters that the election is “not a referendum on Bush” but he thinks the “rearview mirror” argument is relevant since GOP leaders promise the same agenda they were pursuing when they were in power during the Bush years.
Kaine also weighed in on campaign finance, Gov. Joe Manchin’s rifle-wielding Senate ad and Democrats’ chances in November.
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