(Christian Science Monitor) Several Senate Democrats are running their campaigns as far away from the president as possible. Democrats are defending six states that Mitt Romney won in 2012. Three Democratic incumbents find themselves in tossup races in states Mitt Romney won by landslide margins. The president's approval numbers in those states are dismal, forcing Democrats to deny policy agreement the chief executive.
However, many Democratic incumbents have had difficulty doing so. Unsurprisingly, many of them are tripping over their voting records. In 2013, Sen. Mark Pryor (D) of Akansas was the Democrat who voted with the president the least – and his presidential support score is 90%.
To many liberals, Senator Pryor barely counts as a Democrat. So why is his presidential support score so high? In many ways, the combination of gridlock and legislative campaigning in the 113th Congress has limited conservative Democrats' ability to distance themselves from Obama.