President Barack Obama called to congratulate Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell on winning the job of Senate leader between 12:30 and 1 a.m. Wednesday morning. The only problem: By then, McConnell and his wife, former Secretary Elaine Chao, had already left for home and some much needed sleep after a grueling campaign, McConnell aides say.
MORE: See all the election results
The President left a message.
Vice President Joe Biden, by contrast, called about an hour earlier, and was able to get through to his longtime Senate colleague. McConnell aides say they expect he’ll connect with the President later Wednesday and that he’s looking forward to having lunch at the White House on Friday.
This isn’t the first time the Obama White House has struggled to connect with an Election Night phone call, as I reported exclusively in 2011.
On the night that Republicans won control of the House in 2010, the White House Press Office came to a startling realization: They had no contact information for Speaker-to-be John Boehner. In President Obama’s first two years in office, he’d reached out to House Republicans so little that they had no reason to get to know—or even get phone numbers or e-mails for—Boehner’s staff. Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse was asked to call his fishing buddy, Nick Schaper, who was Boehner’s new media director at the time. Schaper gave the appropriate names and numbers to Woodhouse, who then relayed them to Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
Update from Zeke Miller:
From a White House Official:
Last night the President phoned dozens of House, Senate, Gubernatorial candidates of both parties, and members the House and Senate leadership. The list of those lawmakers he connected with are below, and he is continuing additional calls throughout the day.
Senator Harry Reid
Senator Dick Durbin
Senator Michael Bennet
AR Governor-elect Asa Hutchinson
SD Senator-elect Mike Rounds
WV Senator-elect Shelly Moore Capito
MI Senator-elect Gary Peters
Senator Lindsey Graham
Senator Jim Inhofe
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Leader Nancy Pelosi
Governor-elect Tom Wolf, PA
Senator-elect James Lankford, OK
Senator-elect Tom Cotton, AR
Governor John Kasich
Senator Susan Collins
Senator Ed Markey
Senator Jeff Sessions
Senator Cory Booker
Senator Tim Scott
Senator Al Franken
Senator Mark Pryor
Congressman-elect Seth Moulton
Governor Robert Bentley
Governor Bill Haslam
Read next: Obama Says He Wants to ‘Get Stuff Done’
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