Dem Rep. Nye doesn’t want Obama to campaign for him

Nye has deliberately distanced himself from the Obama administration — voting twice against healthcare reform — while Perriello has embraced its agenda. Perriello and Nye are both locked in tough reelection races with only three days to campaign before Election Day.

Nye’s Republican challenger, Scott Rigell, has sought to tie the Democrat to Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). In turn, Nye has touted his votes against the majority.

“I’m not asking anybody in this district to make a decision about me based on other figures,” he said. “My opponents in this race like to talk a lot about other people in Washington that aren’t me.

“I’m asking the voters of the 2nd district of Virginia to decide if I did a good job representing them, not whether or not I agreed enough times with somebody else.”

Observers in the 2nd district believe Nye has a perception problem. “I think that a lot of people here misunderstand what his votes actually were,” said Meyera Oberndorf, who served as mayor of Virginia Beach for 20 years.

The two candidates met in their final debate Thursday night in Virginia Beach.

— Roxana Tiron contributed to this post.