Video: Dozens Protest Outside Darling's Campaign Office

Dozens of people gathered Thursday to protest Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) outside her campaign office on Silver Spring Drive in Glendale.

The event was organized to protest Darling's support of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan, which calls for an overhaul of Medicare. She expressed her support for Ryan's plan at a GOP fundraiser in June.

As protesters marched in a circle up and down Silver Spring Drive, they chanted: "Darling, Darling, she don't care! She wants to end Medicare!"

However, Darling's campaign manager, Andrew Davis, said the protesters are interjecting a federal issue into what is a state campaign.

"This is a federal issue and this is a state Senate race, so this issue doesn't play here at all," Davis said. "Senator Darling has no opinion on the matter."

Glendale police had two squad cars sitting in a parking lot across the street keeping an eye on the protest.

Davis said Glendale police have asked to be notified if the campaign office catches wind of any protests. While the protests have been both large and small, Glendale Police Capt. Mark Ferguson said they're usually not very disruptive.

However, Davis says they are disruptive and he wonders how many of the protesters are actually Darling's constituents. He worked on the Darling campaign in 2008 and says these protests are something new. "This has never happened in past races," he said.