Obama can take endorsement and 'shove it," says Dem

[sabra]

Source: CNN

(CNN) – President Obama is making a campaign stop in Rhode Island Monday but he’s not getting a particularly warm welcome from the state’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

Amid news Obama is refraining from endorsing Democrat Frank Caprio during his swing through the state, Caprio told a local radio station that the president can “take his endorsement and really shove it.”

"We had one of the worst floods in the history of the United States a few months back and President Obama didn't even do a flyover of Rhode Island like President Bush did when New Orleans had their problems. He ignored us and now he's coming into Rhode Island and treating us like an ATM machine,” Caprio, the state’s treasurer, also told WPRO’s John Depetro.

Caprio is neck-and-neck in the polls with former Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, running as an independent. Chafee, the only Republican to vote against the authorization of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, lost his Senate reelection bid in 2006 and later left the GOP.

Chafee went on to endorse then-presidential candidate Obama in 2008, saying then, "“I believe Senator Obama is the best candidate to restore American credibility, to restore our confidence to be moral and to bring people together to solve the complex issues such as the economy, the environment and global stability."

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/25/dem-candidate-obama-can-take-endorsement-and-shove-it/

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Update:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20020551-503544.html?tag=stack

Obama Won't Endorse R.I. Democrat Frank Caprio

On a visit to Rhode Island on behalf of Democratic Congressional candidates, President Obama won't lend his support Monday to the party's gubernatorial hopeful, Frank Caprio.

"He will not be making an endorsement in the race," says White House Deputy Communications Director Jen Psaki. In a Sunday conference call with reporters, Psaki would not explain why the president is distancing himself from Caprio, who is locked in a tight four-way contest to become Rhode Island's chief executive.

The unspoken explanation lies in the fact that one of Caprio's rivals for the job is former Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, running for Governor as an Independent. He served in the Senate with Mr. Obama as one of the chamber's most moderate Republicans.

After losing his bid for re-election in 2006, Chafee left the GOP and in early 2008, endorsed Barack Obama's candidacy for president before the Rhode Island Democratic Primary, in which Mr. Obama placed 2nd behind Hillary Clinton.