Just in time for the Senate recess, President Obama is taking his case for a vote on Merrick Garland to voters in TV markets where Democrats hope to pick up seats in November. Several recent polls have shown GOP senators suffering based on Mitch McConnell’s total blockade of hearings and a vote for Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. Obama sought Monday to make sure those GOP senators get an earful from constituents who want the Senate to do its job, reports CNN.
In Milwaukee, Obama's target was Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who has not yet sat down with Garland during the judge's meet-and-greet tour of the Senate.
"What we're seeing is unprecedented which is the notion that you wouldn't meet with or provide a hearing or a vote for a nominee that everybody agrees is eminently qualified. I'm glad that Senator Johnson now has finally agreed to meet with him but he says he's not gonna give him a vote before the election and yet you haven't heard a good reason for it," Obama said on WISN. […]
Obama also sat with stations in Phoenix; Manchester, New Hampshire; Cincinnati; Kansas City, Missouri; and Des Moines, Iowa.
That is, Obama took aim at GOP Sens. John McCain, Kelly Ayotte, Rob Portman, Roy Blunt, and Chuck Grassley.