Democratic nominee for R.I. governor tells Obama to 'shove it'

Upon hearing he would not receive President Obama's endorsement, the Democratic nominee for governor of Rhode Island told the president to "shove it."

Frank Caprio took the swipe at the president just before he was scheduled to arrive in the Ocean State for a factory visit and fundraiser.

"He can take his endorsement and really shove it as far as I'm concerned," Caprio told WPRO Radio, the Providence Journal reported. 

Caprio's comment is one of the strongest examples of anti-Obama rhetoric from a Democrat this cycle, in which political observers are predicting a GOP wave.

The Democrat is in a three-way race with independent Lincoln Chafee, a former centrist Republican senator, and GOP nominee John Robitaille.

Caprio holds a single-digit lead over Chafee in a recent poll. The ex-senator lost his seat to Sheldon Whitehouse in 2006, a Democratic wave year, and he was one of a number of national Republicans to endorse Obama for president in 2008. 

A spokesman for the former senator, Mike Trainor, told the Journal Obama's decision "is a victory for Linc Chafee."

Caprio hit Obama for not visiting Rhode Island during a span of severe flooding in the spring. He said that people in his state "are hurting" under high unemployment and "now he's coming into Rhode Island treating us like an ATM machine."

Earlier this year, Caprio reportedly considered switching parties from Democrat to Republican.

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