It wasn't any old Democrat who signaled Monday that he wanted some space between himself and President Obama on the question of a mosque near Ground Zero.  It was Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid.

"The First Amendment protects freedom of religion," read a statement from Senator Reid's spokesman.  

"Senator Reid respects that but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else."

Aboard Air Force One, the issue of dissecting what the President meant to say on Friday and how he tried to amend it on Saturday really wasn't at the top of the agenda.

"I think we've had a pretty fulsome conversation about it," said Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton, who didn't take the bait when asked about GOP efforts to take advantage of the issue in this election year.

"I can't speak to the politics of what the Republicans are doing," Burton told reporters.  "And the President didn't do this because of the politics.  He spoke about it because he feels he has an obligation as the President to address this."

But the silence on the issue from Democrats in Congress was deafening, as even from New York, few lawmakers have stepped forward to speak their mind about the mosque issue, as my email inbox remains somewhat quiet.

Reid's decision drew a big rebuke from more liberal web sites, which accused him of hanging the President out to dry and being a complete election year chicken.

It should be noted that Reid is in a very close re-election race in his home state of Nevada.

Democrats charge that Republicans are trying to focus on issues like the Ground Zero Mosque and the Arizona Immigration law because the GOP doesn't have a real plan for the economy.

That talk is probably born more out of frustration than anything else, as Democrats have seen how Republicans can turn a symbolic argument (like the mosque) into votes in November, all the while scaring the dickens out of Democratic candidates.

Finally, as this argument rolled on, more generic poll numbers came in on Monday suggesting that Republicans are solidifying their advantage in this election year, with Gallup showing a 7-point edge for the GOP.

If that's for real, that would portend big Republican gains this Novmeber, with eleven weeks until Election Day.