By: Jeffrey Klein
Political Buzz Examiner

The old saying, “when the cat’s away the mice will play,” must be ringing throughout White House, because while President Barack Obama was away fund raising, a number of Democrat Congressman, and even a Governor, have abandoned their association with the Team Obama reelection campaign—just like in the mid-term 2010 election cycle.

Long time incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who trails her Republican opponent, newcomer Sarah Steelman, by 8 points at 40.7% to 48.7%, added her name to the quickly growing list of Democrats abandoning the big time at the DNC National Convention in Charlotte, according to Elizabeth Hartfield’s ABC News article yesterday.

The other elected officials who have already publicly announced they will not attend the convention hail from places where Obama is unpopular, namely Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and its governor, Earl Ray Tomblin (D)–maybe it has something to do with President Obama and his EPA making good on their threat to destroy the coal industry, their prime private sector employer.

Obama’s low popularity in West Virginia is best illustrated by the fact that Texas prison inmate Keith Russell Judd corralled 41% of the primary vote against the president, without spending a dime or campaigning.

In addition, Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) have also opted out, along with several Democrat lawmakers from Pennsylvania, including Rep. Mark Critz.

And all signs suggest that this prairie fire of discontent will spread rapidly, as many Democrats are trailing their GOP opponents.

According to a FOXNews article today, this is what compelled Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee–the top Democrat in charge of getting other Democrats elected in the House–to urge Democrat candidates to avoid the DNC National Convention, during his remarks at the Reuters Washington Summit Tuesday, saying:

If they want to win an election, they need to be in their districts … A trip to Charlotte may be interesting, but why leave your districts?

Adding insult to injury, House Speaker John Boehner has already collected at least four “yeah” votes from conservative Democrats, with as many as 20 in total expected to break ranks, before tomorrow’s House floor vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in Contempt of Congress, for not delivering Fast and Furious documents requested under two separate October 2011 subpoenas, according to a FOXNews article today.

“While Republicans and Democrats argue over the scope of the people’s right to know what happened, the attorney general has decided to withhold relevant documents,” said Rep. John Barrow (D-GA), in a statement announcing his support of the contempt resolution.

The only way to get to the bottom of what happened is for the Department of Justice to turn over the remaining documents, so that we can work together to ensure this tragedy never happens again.

The other three committed Democrats are Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), Collin Peterson (D-MN), and last, Jim Matheson (D-UT), who stated that the public, Congress and the family of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, whose murder scene included weapons from the botched Fast and Furious anti-gunrunning operation–“deserve answers.”

Just like after the Titanic hit the iceberg on that fateful night in the North Atlantic–the handwriting is already on the wall for the Barack Obama’s reelection campaign…

“Abandon Ship!”