Blue Dog leader grades Obama 'in the C range'

President Obama gets average marks from the co-chairwoman of the Blue-Dog Democrats, the bloc of House Democratic centrists.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-S.D.) said the president deserves a grade in the "C range" for his tenure to date in the White House.

"I think that I would give him you know in the C range overall because I think on some issues, especially navigating some tough economic waters he inherited, he’s doing better than people are giving him credit for," Herseth-Sandlin said on ABC News's "Top Line" webcast.

"But on some of the other issues and some of the agency action, I haven’t been pleased with as it relates to some of the commitment I thought we would be having to ethanol and biodiesel and understanding and dealing with our forestry issues, I don’t think he did a good job," she explained.

Herseth-Sandlin is just one prominent member of a growing crowd of Democrats facing tough reelection challenges this fall who are distancing themselves from the president, and party leaders in Congress. A number of incumbents have stressed their differences with the party on key issues, borne out of a worry they might be saddled by a close affiliation with Obama and other Democratic leaders.

To that end, the Blue-Dog leader might not have been helped when Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), in South Dakota to stump for Herseth-Sandlin, implored voters to reelect her because she'd vote for Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to stay as Speaker of the House.

Herseth-Sandlin said Thursday the race wasn't about Pelosi — nor, for that matter, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).

"John Boehner is no picnic for South Dakota, either. John Boehner voted against the farm bill; John Boehner sided with George Bush in vetoing a Farm Bill that was really good for South Dakota," she said. "So this isn’t about John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi."