And now there are nine.

Nine Democratic elected officials have announced they will not be attending the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

The latest is Claire McCaskill from Missouri, who said she needs to spend time talking with voters.

The other Democrats who declined to RSVP were: Sen. Joe Manchin (WV), Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (WV), Rep. Nick Rahall (WV), Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.), Rep. Bill Owens (NY), Kathy Hochul (NY), Jim Matheson (Utah) and Mark Critz (Pa.).

As a vulnerable incumbent in a reddening state, I’m sure the President will understand that McCaskill needs to ensure she doesn’t contribute to the Democrats losing control of the US Senate.

But, this no-show is particularly noteworthy because McCaskill’s home state was one of the finalists to host the “People’s Convention.”   

At the time, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said Charlotte was chosen due to “electoral politics.”

“We just aren’t the South,” he added. The south will be a key part of President Obama’s releelection bid: Coastal and southern states will help the president, while midwestern states are turning more red.

And two days after Charlotte was named as host city, the New York Times reported that McCaskill expressed concerns to Democratic Party officials that the convention would have “complicated” her re-election campaign, were it to be held in St. Louis.

Two days later, McCaskill denied the report.

"I worked very hard," McCaskill said. "I wanted it for St. Louis very badly. It would have meant organizational help on the campaign. It would have meant great economic activity for St. Louis.”

So, now McCaskill isn’t attending the convention at all.

As if the growing list of no-shows isn’t bad enough, the Charlotte organizers say they’re changing the first convention event from the Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Originally celebrated as a Labor Day festival, officials now say the CarolinaFest event will be in Uptown Charlotte.

The organizers say it has nothing to do with money or the inability to raise enough of it.

And democrats say the no-shows have nothing to do with distancing vulnerable incumbents from the President.

But that's not exactly the message Democratic Party officials are giving their colleagues.

The man responsible for getting Democrats elected to the U.S. Congress this fall has a message for his party's candidates: Stay away from the Democratic National Convention.

"If they want to win an election, they need to be in their districts," New York congressman Steve Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told the Reuters Washington Summit on Tuesday.

So, to recap: 

The fundraising is going great and the move from the speedway to Uptown had nothing to do with anything bad.  The growing list of no-shows at the DNC is really all about stumping schedule conflicts and has nothing to do with anything bad.

Oh!  Hey!  Also, I have a bridge in Pack Square I can sell you for cheap.