Midterm Madness

Obama Heads West to Raise Cash

Stumps for embattled senators Reid and Bennet.

President Obama sought to rally nervous Democrats at a fundraising event in Denver before 2,400 people Thursday. Mocking Republicans who voted against the $787 billion stimulus bill but brag about bringing federal funding to their districts, Obama invoked another Democratic president who faced a decline in polls. "I'm not going to give 'em hell," the president said. "I'm going to tell the truth and they'll think it's hell. That's what Harry Truman said." The event was the opener for a two-day trip West to build support for two embattled senators, Majority Leader Harry Reid and Michael Bennet. Obama stressed that Bennet has been in office just a year in hopes of shielding the senator from the country’s broad anti-incumbent anger. At a more exclusive, $15,000-a-plate dinner afterward, Obama blamed the GOP for inaction in the capitol. "Sometimes when people are scared, politics can get rough,” Obama said. “And it doesn't help when you've got an opposition that is more interested in tearing the other party down than in building America up."