In previous months, Obama's endorsements and campaign appearances weren't enough to save then-Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election bid in New Jersey, Creigh Deeds' run for governor in Virginia or Martha Coakley's campaign in Massachusetts to keep the late Edward M. Kennedy's Senate seat in Democratic hands.
In fairness, Deeds was an underdog from the start, and Corzine brought many problems on himself. But the Coakley loss to Republican Scott Brown was excruciating. She once was considered a shoo-in, and her defeat restored the Republicans' ability to block Democratic bills with Senate filibusters.
If Babington had said it was "excruciating for Democrats," it would have been unremarkable. Instead it sounded like "it was excruciating for me."
Babington also sidestepped Joe Sestak's claim that the White House tried to bribe him with a high-ranking federal job to keep him away from challenging Specter -- perhaps because it would have been excruciating for him. Sestak just "refused to go along" with the Specter plan, no offers made:
The losers in the deal were any longtime Democrats who aspired to the U.S. Senate. They essentially were told to step aside for an 80-year-old longtime Republican. Pennsylvania's Democratic voters were asked to concur.
Sestak, a former Navy vice admiral first elected to the House in 2006, refused to go along. He plugged away without help from the state or national party. A few weeks ago he trailed Specter by about 20 percentage points in polls of likely Democratic voters.
But Sestak caught fire in the closing days, partly through a TV ad showing Specter campaigning enthusiastically with then-President George W. Bush, who remains deeply unpopular with many Democratic primary voters.
Babington could have mentioned that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) aggressively questioned Attorney General Eric Holder on this scandal of what he suggested were "three felonies" on May 13, and Holder refused to elaborate on any plans to investigate the matter. (The CBSNews.com account comes with video.)
