On last night's "Race for the White House" on MSNBC, host David Gregory cited Eighth district Democrat Chris Van Hollen as someone who is not excited about riding Barack Obama's coattails.

Citing an item in Monday's Wall Street Journal, Van Hollen's picture was up on the screen next to Representatives Tim Mahoney of Florida and Travis Childers of Mississippi.

It was a strange grouping. In the last two elections, Childers' district went for the GOP presidential candidate by an average of 10 points, Mahoney's by 2 points.

And Van Hollen's? By 20 points for the Democrat.

And while both Mahoney and Childers have decided to stay out of the presidential race altogether, Van Hollen has not only endorsed Obama but spoken of his coattails helping candidates on several occasions.

Because in the article, Van Hollen was not expressing worry that Obama at the top of the ticket would spell gloom and doom for congressional candidates. He was simply reminding representatives that "their constituents come first," and their decision not to travel to the Democratic National Committee Convention in Denver would be understood. But his name was spotted in the article, and he was thusly lumped in.

After all, It would be a very, very strange thing if the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was running away from the party's presidential candidate.