Mississippi Democrat admits he didn't vote for Obama

Rep. Gene Taylor

With just over a week to go until Election Day, several conservative Democrats have slightly distanced themselves from the political establishment and from President Obama himself - but one Democrat just took it to a whole new level.

Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), an 11-term incumbent facing a tough reelection campaign in southern Mississippi, says he won't support Nancy Pelosi for another term as House Speaker and - yikes - didn't even for vote Obama in 2008.

According to The Hill, Taylor told a reporter from the Sun Herald of South Mississippi, "I did not vote for Obama. I voted for McCain."

He added, "Better the devil you know."

Taylor also told the Sun Herald that if the Democrats retain control of the House, he will not support Pelosi for another term as Speaker. "I'm very disappointed in how she's veered to the left," he said.

Taylor's Republican opponent, Mississippi state Rep. Steven Palazzo, has frequently tried to paint Taylor as a "Pelosi Democrat," counting, like many other GOP candidates, on a wave of support from voters frustrated with the current political balance in Congress.

Taylor is the latest and perhaps most extreme example of Democratic candidates - especially those facing tough election battles - to distance themselves from the Obama administration and from Democratic Party leaders. Rhode Island Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio told a radio station Monday that Obama can "take his endorsement and really shove it," after he learned that Obama wouldn't be endorsing him during a visit to the state. And West Virginia governor Joe Manchin (D), facing reelection, declined to endorse Obama for reelection in 2012, saying there are "a lot of things that need to be fixed" before he could support him again. Manchin also ran an ad in which he shot a copy of the Obama-approved cap-and-trade bill with a rifle.

Several other Democratic congressional candidates have also distanced themselves from the party and from the president in recent weeks - though in perhaps less extreme terms.