Obama plans push to help 7 Dem governor hopefuls

When it comes to finding useful places for President Barack Obama to stump with a candidate for this year's midterm elections, the pickings are slim.
Many of the most imperiled Democrats, particularly Senate incumbents, are running in typically Republican states where Obama is deeply unpopular. Few of those Democrats invoke the president's name except to distance themselves from him.
So when Obama campaigns with Connecticut Gov Daniel Malloy today, it is an opportunity for Obama to also demonstrate he remains politically relevant.
The November 4 vote is called a midterm election because it falls halfway through a president's four years in office. This year's election is especially important because the Republicans will almost certainly retain control of the House and need only six seats to gain control of the Senate, some that seems increasingly likely.

Obama is planning a major campaign push in seven governor's races across the country, where Democrats' prospects are looking up, while largely avoiding the party's tougher challenges in the Senate.
Obama will spend the last full week of the campaign before the elections appearing at public events for Democratic candidates for governor in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Maine, a White House official said.

All are states Obama won twice. In nearly all, the Democratic candidate for governor is locked in a competitive race. The only Senate candidate Obama has announced plans to campaign for is Michigan's Gary Peters.
The last-minute focus on governor's races marks a shift for Obama, who has spent much of the past six months in ritzy homes raising money for House and Senate Democrats. Obama has attended just one fundraiser for the Democratic Governors Association, in February.

But governor's races are a rare bright spot for Democrats this year, when historical trends and a rough map are working against them in Congress. Democrats could see a net gain of a handful of governor's mansions if their voters are revved up enough to turn out.
The cost of a presidential visit makes it inefficient for Obama to campaign for individual House candidates. But Obama's near-absence from the Senate fight this year reflects a bitter reality for the president: Even as his party faces the potential loss of the Senate, there's almost no state where the Democrat thinks being seen with Obama in public is helpful.