It was a week ago today that President Obama made his first comments about the controversial mosque near Ground Zero in New York, and the issue is still bubbling around the Political World.

It's about this time in any election year that you can talk about who is winning the news cycle each day.  It means more in a Presidential race than for Congressional races, but it is still important for the 2010 mid-term elections.

It's not necessarily that Republicans "won" the news cycles of the past week or so, but it is easier to make the case that the Democrats and President Obama played the last week in a more reactive and defensive mode.

A story from the AP's Beth Fouhy this week showed how Democrats in New York state are breaking with President Obama on the mosque, urging that it be built away from Ground Zero.

Read her piece at http://is.gd/epurs and see how some Democrats are staying quiet.  Sooner or later they will have to say something.

President Obama tried to use his campaign swing of the past few days to turn the page onto something else, emphasizing what's certain to be a central Democratic theme in coming weeks, that Republicans are to blame for blocking jobs legislation in the Senate.

"Unfortunately, a partisan minority in the Senate so far has refused to allow this jobs bill to come up for a vote," the President said yesterday about a small business aid bill that he urged action on by lamwakers.

"It's obstruction that stands in the way of small business owners getting the loans and the tax cuts that they need to prosper.  It's obstruction that defies common sense," he added.

The President's comments came after some bad news from the feds, which showed that initial jobless claims went up to their highest point since November, an indication that the economic recovery might be going in the wrong direction.

That could certainly cause trouble for Democrats, especially if the unemployment rate goes up from the current level of 9.5%.

But much of the discussion this week was about the Ground Zero Mosque, and whether Republicans were overplaying their hand or Democrats were on the wrong side of public opinion.  It was not a week spent on the offensive for Democrats.

What will be interesting to watch is what plays out over the next ten days, as the Obamas spend a summer vacation in Martha's Vineyard.

If the Bully Pulpit isn't being used for a week, the other party has a chance to land some blows that might go unanswered.

We'll see if the GOP has anything up its sleeve, or if they will take a little break too.

Let me know what happens.