President Obama conducted a covert radio blitz over the last two days to help turn out Democratic voters, quietly sitting for interviews with 14 predominantly urban stations in swing states.
The president’s appearances include four interviews on radio stations in North Carolina, where Sen. Kay Hagan (D) is fighting for her political life with a narrow lead at the polls.
{mosads}The rest are intended to bolster Democratic gubernatorial candidates.
They include three Maryland stations, where the president’s former law school classmate, Anthony Brown, is running for governor; and two in Milwaukee, where Democrat Mary Burke is challenging incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
The president also sat for interviews with stations in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan and Florida, which all have competitive gubernatorial races.
The interviews appear designed to intentionally avoid national media attention, with White House officials repeatedly refusing before Tuesday night to say where the president would be calling in.
Earlier Tuesday, press secretary Josh Earnest was evasive when asked how the president might be turning out the Democratic vote.
“I don’t know of any specific radio interviews that the president is doing today, but we can follow up with you if he ends up doing some,” Earnest said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he does.”
The secrecy could be a bid by Democrats to prevent the president’s appearances from becoming a liability for candidates.
Last month, Georgia Republicans seized on the president’s interview on an Atlanta radio station in support of Senate candidate Michelle Nunn to hammer the Democratic hopeful, recording robocalls featuring the president’s endorsement.
Obama cut an ad for Hagan that also wasn’t shared with media. It only became widely publicized when a spokesman for her opponent, state Speaker Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), posted it online Monday evening.
Obama also appeared in an ad for Florida gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist in a bid to boost black voter turnout. The ad has been airing on a local Miami station with a predominantly black audience.
“If you want a governor who will fight for you, not just the wealthy and the powerful, go vote for Charlie Crist,” the president says in that spot.
In the Connecticut interview earlier Tuesday, Obama complained that Democrats were facing their worst midterm election map since President Eisenhower’s administration.
“There are a lot of states that are being contested where they just tend to tilt Republican,” he said.
“There’s no doubt that, when you look at the Senate races, because of the fact only a third of the Senate is up at any given time, it tends to be a little bit arbitrary which seats are really going to be contested and which aren’t,” Obama added.
“So, for example, in this election cycle, this is probably the worst possible group of states for Democrats since Dwight Eisenhower.”
Ben Kamisar contributed.