President Barack Obama speaks to the media about the governments Ebola response, in the Oval Office of the White House Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama is fighting his last campaign mostly at staid Democratic fund-raising events in hotel ballrooms and the private homes of donors, a far cry from the huge crowds who turned out in droves during his White House runs and helped elect him twice.
This is not where Obama wanted to be in his second term. With the president’s job approval near 40 percent, however, a public rally with Obama would be a liability for most Democrats in contested states where U.S. Senate control will be decided on Nov. 4 elections.
But Obama has gamely traveled far and wide as the chief Democratic fundraiser, headlining about 60 donor events this year and raising millions of dollars to help pay for campaign ads and voter turnout activities for congressional candidates.
It is not an unheard-of position for a president in his second term, when popularity can begin to fade. Republicans also kept his predecessor, George W. Bush, at a distance in 2006 when the unpopular Iraq war dragged down his ratings.
