Durbin: If 2012 is a ‘referendum,’ Democrats are ‘in trouble’

Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin told the Chicago Tribune that if the 2012 election is a “referendum” on President Barack Obama, then Democrats are “in trouble.”

In an interview Thursday for the Tribune’s “Chicago Live” series, Durbin was asked about the election.

“If it is a referendum, then we’re in trouble because the economy’s not good and people’ll say, ‘well, I just want to make it clear I don’t like the way things are,’” Durbin said.

“However,” Durbin clarified, “it won’t be. It’ll be a contest. And there’ll be two people — the president, and the Republican nominee — with very different views on what to do with America, where it should go from here, and that’s what the voters will make their choice on.”

See the video here. Durbin’s comments are six minutes in.

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