Prime Minister Taro Aso has been trying hard to rally support for Liberal Democratic Party candidates in next Sunday's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, which figures to be a hard-fought race between the ruling bloc and opposition parties and a bellwether for the general election.

The problem is the LDP candidates running for the Tokyo assembly don't like it.

With the support rate for the Cabinet hovering around 20 percent in recent polls, Aso's unusual step of stumping for the 58 LDP-backed candidates since early June has often been met with scowls if not open criticism by nervous campaign staffs who want to avoid anything that might turn voters away.