Press Secretary Jay Carney says he's confident the Democrats won't lose control of the Senate in the November election -- because of their political priorities.
Carney offered the assessment while insisting that today's daily press briefing wasn't a campaign briefing.
He was asked whether he shared former Obama adviser David Axelrod's fear that Democratic activists are too focused right now on 2016 and losing sight of November. Losing the Senate would be a major blow for Obama.
"The Democratic party is not going to lose control of the Senate, in our view," Carney said. "And that's precisely because of the policies that he and Democrats support that are focused on expanding opportunity as opposed to repealing benefits, that are focused providing broad support for the middle class so that it can become more secure going forward and that more jobs are created as opposed to support for special interest tax loopholes that benefit the few.
"And the president feels very strongly that that approach is one that, broadly speaking, the American people support," Carney said.