They are in the PRIMARY! Never forget that. As much as they attack each other, the GOP has done a good job of making Obama their main focus. Obviously, each candidate wants to win the party nomination, so they can't completely focus on Obama, but they tend to keep their attacks on track.
The top priority is still the economy, and most Americans are starting to figure out that the BLS unemployment statistics that are recited by the media are a terrible measure of the strength of the economy. The labor participation rate is at record lows, and while this isn't mentioned in the news, it's felt by more people than the U-4. People realize that millions of students are in grad school now, not because they want to further their education, but because they cannot find a job with a Bachelor's degree. They realize that millions of people are working jobs that are much worse and pay less than what they had 5 or 6 years ago. They see many people forced to take retirement years early, and thousands of dollars short because they were laid off or forced to retire.
Also, the presidency isn't the only prize this November. The GOP could take back the Senate and control all of Congress. If this happens, they will have MUCH more power than President Obama and will embark on a non-stop campaign of blaming Obama (even more than we see now). Most Americans blame the president for everything, often when the blame should be solely on Congress, and they will blame Obama in this instance. There is a reason to believe that the GOP is essentially throwing in the towel for the 2012 Presidential race in order to secure Congress and possibly ride a wave of support (albeit irrational support) for many election cycles to come. Remember what happened in 1980? The GOP convinced America that Jimmy Carter was to blame and it worked. Many Americans were hesitant to elect a Democrat again because the GOP convinced them that Jimmy Carter and the Democrats would screw up this country.
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