It initially appeared as though Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill would easily cruise to re-election in November.
But then everything began to go off the rails for her as she made a series of campaign blunders, such as flying around the state in a private plane while on a purported “bus tour,” admitting that she’d sacrifice rural votes “in the boot heel” of the state in favor of urban votes over health care, or publicly announcing her opposition to then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
McCaskill was also exposed by Project Veritas’ undercover videos for being less than truthful with Missouri voters about how liberal and progressive she really was — and would continue to be, if re-elected — a problem she only compounded when she made a big deal out of the videos and succeeded only in ensuring that more voters became aware of the issue.
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All of that resulted in her going from having a solid lead in the polls a few months ago to now being several points behind her Republican challenger, state Attorney General Josh Hawley. As she desperately tries to regain support, McCaskill’s latest campaign ad sought to distance herself from the “crazy Democrats” that were pulling her party too far to the left.
That ad didn’t go over well with her own Democratic base, however, which compelled McCaskill to try and walk the fine line between her progressive leftist base and moderate centrist voters via an interview Monday with Fox News anchor Bret Baier.
During the interview, McCaskill appeared to throw some of her fellow Democrats under the bus.
Asked about her voting record on judicial nominees under the Obama administration and the Trump administration, McCaskill bragged that she had actually voted in favor of “over 70 percent” of Trump’s nominees, unlike her “knee-jerk” colleagues who “get up every day and try to figure out how to fight the president.”
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Baier then referenced the “crazy Democrats” campaign ad and asked McCaskill to expound upon that and identify who she believes are the crazy Democrats.
Was this a desperate attempt by McCaskill at damage control with voters?
“The crazy Democrats are people who walk in restaurants and scream in elected officials’ faces,” McCaskill said. “The crazy Democrats are — we have a state senator here in Missouri that actually advocated for the assassination of President Trump — that’s a crazy Democrat.
“I don’t do those things. I’m not somebody who thinks we should ever be uncivil. I think what most Missourians want is for us to listen to each other, figure out where we can compromise, not scream in each other’s faces, not call each other names. So I’m really talking about civility here, I’m talking about being polite, having good manners.”
But that response didn’t really answer Baier’s question, so he sought clarity by asking specifically if there were any “crazy Democrats” in the Senate.
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“Well, I would say this — I would not call my colleagues crazy, but Elizabeth Warren sure went after me when I advocated tooling back some of the regulations for small banks and credit unions,” replied McCaskill. “I certainly disagree with Bernie Sanders on a bunch of stuff.”
“So, I’m not afraid … I’ve done those kinds of things which do separate me, I think, from some of the ‘knee-jerk’ folks that just are against the president no matter what,” she added.
This interview was a blatantly obvious effort by McCaskill to do damage control with the crucial midterm election only a week away.
McCaskill’s once-comfortable lead over Hawley disappeared when she was accurately and repeatedly portrayed as an out-of-touch progressive leftist who will, more often than not, vote in lock-step with Democrat leadership and oppose President Donald Trump at nearly every turn.
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While that portrayal may serve her well in deep-blue urban centers or endear her to elitist liberals on the nation’s coasts, it doesn’t play particularly well with the majority center-right population of the state she purports to represent.
It is unclear if this naked ploy to distance herself from the “crazy Democrats” that have become far too numerous in her own party will help McCaskill’s failing run to retain her Senate seat, or if it will only serve to enrage her own base while — at the same time — failing to win over the moderates and conservatives she desperately needs to be re-elected.
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