CNN reporter Brianna Keilar likened Sen. Kay Hagan's (D., N.C.) excuse for missing President Obama's event in North Carolina to "I can't go, I'm washing my hair" Tuesday in the White House press conference.
Carney brushed off Hagan's absence as coincidental, claiming important Senate business required her presence in D.C.:
BRIANNA KEILAR: Right. So my point -- and I know you're saying that her office has addressed this, that -- (inaudible) -- the Senate concession, but I mean, it's kind of the -- I think people take that as the Congressional equivalent of, I can't go, I'm washing my hair. So --
JAY CARNEY: You think voting on potentially --
KEIALR: No, I don't, I don't -- (inaudible) --
CARNEY: -- budget resolutions or omnibus resolutions or --
KEILAR: I think there's a way -- I think there's a way to -- I think there's a way to thread the needle --
CARNEY: -- extending unemployment insurance? I think that most senators would disagree with that.
KEILAR: No, but I think -- I think there's a way to, you know, thread the needle and some -- try to maybe fit both things in. And she said that she welcomes campaigning with the president, but it doesn't seem that she jumped at this opportunity --
CARNEY: This isn't a campaign event, Brianna (sp). I understand, having been there --
KEILAR: But it's a campaign year -- it's a campaign year for her.
CARNEY: -- the urgent desire to turn every story 10 months out into an election story. I promise you this is not.
KEILAR: Since the president -- my question is just, does the president worry that he is a drag at this point, in a time where he needs to maintain the Senate -- (inaudible) --
CARNEY: All I can tell you is the president is traveling to North Carolina tomorrow.
Speculation is rampant the North Carolina Democrat is scrambling to distance herself from President Obama and his awful approval ratings in the Tar Heel state: