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Dannel Malloy is one rare Democrat.

The Connecticut governor, like many other Democrats in this midterm election, is locked in a dead-heat re-election race. But Malloy is daring to do something few other vulnerable Democrats would do campaign with President Barack Obama.

In his first major campaign event of the fall, Obama was to appear at a Malloy rally Wednesday evening in Bridgeport, Connecticut, aiming to mobilize core Democratic voters who remain loyal and enthusiastic supporters of the president.

When it comes to finding useful places for Obama to stump with a candidate, the pickings are slim. Many of the most imperiled Democrats, particularly Senate incumbents, are running in typically Republican states where Obama is deeply unpopular. Few of those Democrats invoke the president's name except to distance themselves from him.

So in a way, Wednesday's rally is an opportunity for Obama to also demonstrate he remains politically relevant. The Connecticut governor's race is perhaps the best place to start.

It's a Democratic state Obama won easily in 2008 and 2012. And with Democrats outnumbering Republicans in the state, energizing core voters is essential to Malloy's survival against Republican Tom Foley.

"It's a state that Obama carried by 18 points two years ago," noted former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod. "As everywhere, Malloy's challenge will be to fight midterm drop-off among Democratic voters, and the president can help with that."

Following his Connecticut appearance, Obama planned to campaign Sunday in Maryland for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown and in his hometown of Chicago for Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. Brown is considered far less vulnerable than Quinn, who is running neck-and-neck in his Illinois re-election bid against Republican Bruce Rauner. As in Connecticut, both races are in states Obama handily won.

What's more, governors are a step removed from Washington and thus less likely to be held accountable for a president's federal policies.

In contrast, Democrats running in Senate races in such Republican states as Arkansas, Alaska and Kentucky have made it clear they don't want to be seen with Obama. Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Kentucky Democrat seeking to unseat Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, won't even say whether she voted for Obama.

Excerpt from:
Obama Finds a Place to Campaign: Connecticut

Rand Paul: GOP needs to help African Americans
Sen. Rand Paul met with NAACP leaders in Ferguson, Missouri and tells Wolf Blitzer what Republicans should be doing.

By: CNN

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Rand Paul: GOP needs to help African Americans - Video

Rand Paul: Consider flight suspensions over Ebola
Sen. Rand Paul gives his beliefs on Ebola. Watch the full interview at 5pm ET on The Situation Room.

By: Pam Houston

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Rand Paul: Consider flight suspensions over Ebola - Video

Rand Paul: GOP Not Reaching Out to African-Americans The Biggest Mistake Weve Made
In an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke about his meeting with NAACP leaders in Ferguson, MO, and called on the GOP to start actually ...

By: FreshReport

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Rand Paul: GOP Not Reaching Out to African-Americans The Biggest Mistake Weve Made - Video

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Wolf Blitzer's interview with Rand Paul will air in full on CNN's "The Situation Room" at 5 p.m. ET

(CNN) -- After meeting with NAACP leaders in Ferguson, Missouri, Sen. Rand Paul told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the Republicans Party's biggest mistake in recent decades has been not reaching out to African-American voters.

The Kentucky Republican, who said his meeting went "very well," said he laid out his views on demilitarizing police, reforming the criminal justice system and boosting urban economies.

"I don't want to characterize how everybody else feels about what I said, but I think it was a good opening to the conversation," Paul said in an interview set to air Friday. "I think in the Republican Party, the biggest mistake we've made in the last several decades is we haven't gone into the African American community, into the NAACP and say you know what, we are concerned about what's going on in your cities and we have plans. They may be different than the Democrats, but we do have plans and we do want to help."

According to his office, participants in the meeting included members of the NAACP, the Urban League and several local business and church leaders.

Paul was one of the most outspoken Republicans about the police response to protests that followed the August shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager who was killed by a police officer in Ferguson.

Angry demonstrations erupted this week in St. Louis after another black teenager was fatally shot by a white police officer. Supporters of Brown were set to begin a weekend of marches and civil disobedience on Friday, dubbed the "Weekend of Resistance."

"There's a sense of tension and unease that goes beyond just the shootings. I think the shooting has brought this to the surface, but there's a sense of unease in the country," Paul told Blitzer.

"Black unemployment is twice white unemployment and has been for decade after decade," he added. "I know this president cares about trying to improve it but it hasn't gotten better."

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Rand Paul talks to CNN about NAACP meeting in Ferguson ...