Chuck Todd, moderator of Meet the Press (because comedian Jon Stewart was unavailable) is explaining away anticipated defeats of Democrat Senate candidates Mark Pryor and Allison Grimes with the race card. Writing in “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘14,” Todd and colleagues mark Murray and Carrie Dann, write:

If Pryor and Grimes ultimately lose their races -- and the preponderance of polls show them trailing -- these missteps will be evidence of how they lost their races. Now, do they have more pressure due to an environment that’s unfriendly to Democrats? Sure. Is it radioactive to have the African-American president linked to them in Arkansas and Kentucky? Of course.

So it is not that they are linked to an incompetent president whose national approval score is barely 40% that is the problem.  No, it’s because t they are linked to an African American president that causes those candidates problems. Todd of course was a Democratic staffer before he came to NBC. Like Chris Matthews and so many others.