Obama tells fundraiser Calif. Sen. Boxer might lose re-election unless supporters get to work

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Obama: Boxer might lose if supporters don’t work

LOS ANGELES — President Barack Obama is telling California Democrats that their liberal Sen. Barbara Boxer might lose her re-election race unless they work hard for her campaign.

Obama delivered the stern warning Monday evening in Los Angeles at the first of a trio of fundraisers for Boxer and the Democratic Party.

Boxer is seeking a fourth term and has won big in the past in Democratic-friendly California. But she’s facing a more difficult political environment this time around because of the shaky economy.

Obama says that all incumbents are in danger because of the economic environment, though he says it’s turning around.

The events are expected to raise as much as $3.5 million for Boxer and the Democratic National Committee.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is lending a hand to one of his party’s endangered Senate incumbents, Democrat Barbara Boxer, and raising cash for the Democrats in the friendly confines of California.

Obama was headlining three fundraisers Monday evening on behalf of Boxer and the Democratic National Committee. He was expected to raise between $3 million and $3.5 million to split between the senator and the DNC. It’s one of his first appearances on behalf of a candidate since his health care overhaul passed last month.

The liberal Boxer is seeking her fourth term in Democratic-leaning California. She’s won big in the past but like many incumbents is facing difficulties because of the sour economy and a mortgage crisis that has hit particularly hard in California.

An independent Field Poll last month found Boxer running about even with the three Republicans who are competing for the nomination in the state’s June 8 primary; she herself has only token primary opposition.

Even so most analysts give Boxer the advantage, especially compared with some other Senate Democratic candidates or seriously endangered incumbents such as moderate Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas. But whereas Obama might not be welcome in conservative Arkansas, he’s certain to be cheered in California, where he remains popular — far more popular, in fact, than Boxer.

His approval rating stood at 52 percent in a Field Poll last month. By contrast Boxer was viewed favorably by only 38 percent of California voters.

And unlike in other parts of the country, both Obama and Boxer could benefit from passage of the health care law. A Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California poll this month said California voters have a generally positive view of the health care bill. Forty-six percent said they would be more likely to vote for a lawmaker who supported the bill compared with 29 percent who said they would not be.

Boxer’s Republican rivals are state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, businesswoman Carly Fiorina and former Rep. Tom Campbell. They have criticized the incumbent, with Fiorina’s campaign calling Boxer “the bully of the Senate.”

In a conference call with reporters Monday, Fiorina said Obama is on a “rescue mission” to save Boxer when the state’s troubled economy needs help. “The president is out here today because Barbara Boxer is vulnerable and the Democratic establishment is working overtime to prop her up,” she said.

Boxer says voters will have a clear choice in November and contends she is the one on the side of the people of California.

Ticket prices for Monday’s events ranged from $100 for a reception to $17,600 for dinner with the president. Events were taking place at the California Science Center and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

A group that supports the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan plans to protest in Exposition Park, where both museums are located.

Obama left Washington Monday afternoon and is scheduled to head home from Los Angeles early Tuesday.