NRSC chief: Dems ran too far from Obama

Senate Democrats are blaming President Obama and his poor approval ratings for their deep losses in Tuesday’s elections. But some top Republicans think they missed an opportunity to use the president to their advantage.

{mosads}National Republican Senatorial Committee Executive Director Rob Collins said Democrats “sidelined their best messenger,” especially in purple states, by keeping Obama away rather than using him to tout an improving economy.

The NRSC used an early afternoon session on Thursday to run through the strategy that helped them win seven Senate seats and counting — and criticize their Democratic counterparts.

“Democrats made a big mistake in sidelining President Obama specifically in North Carolina, Iowa and Colorado,” Collins said at one point.

“I can’t remember a Democrat who spent any kind of money in a significant way talking about the economy.”

Republicans also took potshots at Democrats’ vaunted ground game, dubbed the Bannock Street Project.

“In the 11 states they listed as the Bannock Street Project they were 1 and 10. It turned out to be the New Coke of this political cycle. It just didn’t work,” NRSC Communications Director Brad Dayspring said.

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NRSC Political Director Ward Baker said Republicans intentionally kept quiet about their ground efforts while Democrats crowed about theirs, in order to catch Democrats by surprise on Election Day — and that while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was touting its number of door-knocks in states like Colorado, they hit twice as many doors in the weeks those numbers were rolled out.

“We just decided we didn’t want to talk about it. We didn’t want them to know,” he said.

“They were the committee with the cash,” Collins concurred. “We didn’t want to tip our hands.”