Sen. Claire McCaskill will skip her party's presidential nominating convention in September, her campaign said Tuesday.

"If you were in a really hard election and it was after Labor Day, would you go to North Carolina to a bunch of parties and glad-handling?" McCaskill said in Washington, according to Politico. "Or would you stay home and try to convince Missourians they should rehire you?"

McCaskill attended the 2008 convention in Denver, where she supported Barack Obama's presidential bid. She skipped the 2004 Boston convention, where Democrats nominated John Kerry. McCaskill was running for governor that year.

Her decision to bypass the Democrats' gathering in Charlotte, N.C., adds her name to a growing list of politicians planning to skip the convention. By some estimates more than a dozen elected Democrats have announced plans to stay away from the affair, which takes place the week of Sept. 3.

The Missouri Republican Party accused McCaskill of trying to put distance between her candidacy and Obama's, a charge McCaskill strongly denied.

But, said Missouri GOP executive director Lloyd Smith, "it just won't work."