ST. LOUIS, MO (KMOX) - Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill is not going to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.  McCaskill, one of the most vulnerable Democrats targeted by the Republican National Committee for defeat in 2012, explained her decision Wednesday morning in a conference call.

“Broadly speaking I have never in my career, chosen to go to a meeting of political honchos as opposed to campaigning in my home state when I have been in a contested election.” McCaskill said, ” I think this is because the meeting is being held so late in the year, I just honestly think it’s important for me to be at home, talking to Missourians as opposed to going to a series of cocktail parties in a city far away.”

“And in a way, I think if I went, those same Republican operatives that are criticizing me for not going, would say she thinks party honchos are more important than Missourians so this is where some of those people are trying to make something out of nothing.”

McCaskill’s Republican opponents jumped on the opportunity to say McCaskill and other Democrats in conservative districts are avoiding the convention to distance themselves from  President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.

McCaskill’s absence is notable because she played an early and prominent role in Obama’s 2008 campaign, endorsing him during that primary with then Sen. Hillary Clinton.

McCaskill also attended the 2008 convention, though she was not up for reelection. McCaskill has previously skipped her party’s convention in year’s she is on the ballot, including in 2004 when she ran for governor.