Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod called the Republican convention a "terrible failure" on Sunday and said the event had failed to help Mitt Romney in the polls.
Speaking on Fox News, Axelrod said he "saw no movement" for Romney in the polls during the GOP convention. "I don't really see any bounce," he said.
Axelrod added that the GOP's "snarky attacks and bromides for the base" in Tampa had put Democrats in a strong position to begin their own convention this week in Charlotte, N.C.
"I think the race is exactly where it was before they walked in [to Tampa], and now it's our turn," he said.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll out Saturday found that President Obama has reclaimed a narrow lead from Romney, who enjoyed a two-point advantage for a short period last week.
But on Sunday, a different poll showed Romney with the expected convention bounce. Conservative polling outlet Rasmussen found the GOP nominee with a four-point lead over Obama, who he trailed by two points before the convention. The poll showed Romney leading the president with 48 percent support to 44.
Axelrod said that GOP convention was short on details about the party's plans to reform Medicare and cut taxes.
"They can talk about being bold, they can talk about facing up to these problems, but they don't do it," he said of Republicans. "All Mitt Romney does is talk about Barack Obama."
The senior campaign strategist also sought to paint the GOP as a party that is weakened by internal divisions and unhappy with its nominee.
"We don't have the problems the other party has," he said. "We're not divided. We don't have to worry about what people are saying on the side."
Echoing the rest of Obama's team, Axelrod downplayed expectations and predicted that the race with Romney would be close.
"We have a lead in this race, it's a slight lead," Axelrod said. "We have slight leads in battleground states. We expected a close race, and we're going to have a close race."
This story was updated at 12:21 p.m.
