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updated 3:14 PM EDT, Fri October 3, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Washington (CNN) -- To Republicans, President Barack Obama is a gift that keeps on giving when it comes to campaign fodder to use against Democrats.

A line from Obama's economic speech on Thursday is giving Republicans more material to continue slamming their opponents as Obama surrogates. That tactic has been key to Republicans' midterm strategy this cycle, at a time when a majority of Americans -- 52% according to the latest CNN/ORC poll -- disapprove of the President's job.

"I am not on the ballot this fall," Obama said at Northwestern University on Thursday. "But make no mistake: these policies are on the ballot. Every single one of them."

Rep. Cory Gardner, the Republican nominee for Senate in Colorado, already played up the line during an interview Friday.

"Well I think the President himself yesterday stated that his policies are going to be on the ballot," he said. "Those failed policies are what the people of Colorado are facing and voting on."

And Republicans in three key states for control of the Senate have already jumped on those words in videos that made it online less than 24 hours after Obama spoke.

Kentucky

When it comes to Democratic candidates setting up a sharp divide with Obama, Kentucky candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes has been one of the most visible, even pointing out in a recent ad, by saying "I'm not Barack Obama."

Read more:
Obama lines go straight into GOP ads