Rep. Jim Clyburn: Alison Lundergan Grimes 'botched' interview with her stance on Obama

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Tuesday that Alison Lundergan Grimes may have "botched" a campaign opportunity when she refused to state whether or not she voted for President Obama.

Clyburn said Tuesday morning on MSNBC that Grimes' polling numbers "started to plummet after she botched that question so significantly." Clyburn was referring to an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal last month, in which Grimes was asked — four times — whether or not she voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012. Each time she was asked, Grimes didn't give an answer, instead stating that she was a delegate for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.

Clyburn went on to criticize Democrats for "running away from Obama" after his approval ratings sank. In Clyburn's opinion, Grimes should have stated that she voted for Obama but disagrees with him on key issues, such as energy and coal policies. "I just think there was a way to finesse that answer and not get hoisted, the way she did, on her own petard," Clyburn said.

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Politico notes that Clyburn is "all but assured to win re-election for his own seat," while Grimes, who is running against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, "appears to have faded over the past month."