Ever since President Obama made the fateful remark in advance of the mid-term elections that he’s not on the ballot but his policies are, Democrats running for election and reelection in key states have done their best to distance themselves from the president.

The funny thing: The president isn’t even mad that they’re abandoning ship. He’s actually told them he’s on board with that — “I told them, do what you need to do to win.”

Let’s start with the man who recently told a conservative leaning publication that the president is “not relevant.”

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska)

Unlike some of Democrats who have refused to answer whether they voted for the president or not in 2008 and 2012 — we’ll get to them in a moment — Sen. Begich gave an honest answer, but not without a caveat.

“I did (vote for him), but that’s irrelevant,” Begich told the Washington Examiner. “The president’s not relevant. He’s gone in two years.”

The incumbent Begich is currently in a close race with Republican Dan Sullivan.

Michelle Nunn (D-Ga.)

Nunn, who is also in a tight race with Republican David Perdue, was approached by a reporter who wanted to know if she voted for Obama. She would, well, have none of it and her staffer answered instead, “Would you leave her alone?”

Other voices from the background can be heard saying, “Yes — of course, he’s the president.”

The exchange was caught on camera.

The president has since gone all in, saying: “If Michelle Nunn wins, that means that Democrats keep control of the Senate and that means that we can keep on doing some good work. It is critically important to make sure folks vote.”

Alison Lundergan Grimes (D-Ky.)

Grimes has taken some heat from critics for refusing to answer multiple times whether she voted for the president, even citing the “sanctity of the ballot box” as a reason not to answer.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest laughed off the ballot box remark.

“I’m not going to compromise a constitutional right provided here in Kentucky in order to curry favor on one or (an)other side or members of the media,” she said during a debate with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Newly minted “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd said such evasion had for all intents and purposes “disqualified” Grimes from the race.

Grimes would fire back at a rally, claiming that Todd and McConnell were bullying her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl0zbSjhMq8

“Kentucky is ready for a senator that’s an independent thinker that can put the partisanship aside and actually fight for the people for this state. One that won’t be bullied by Mitch McConnell or Chuck Todd. We can do this Kentucky,” she said.

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.)

Pryor was recently put on the spot for an interview by MSNBC and was asked if he thought that the president was handling Ebola appropriately. His response was essentially dead air space in the form of two resounding “Uhhhhhh’s.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Czh17NK7Bk

Pryor would later explain his answer.

Sen. Mark Pryor's statement on his interview with me on #Ebola on @morningjoe pic.twitter.com/ojC6mlzJrs

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) October 7, 2014

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)

Shaheen was laughed at by an audience at the New Hampshire debates when she said “yes” to supporting Obama’s policies and “no” to supporting Obama’s policies.

The question: “Imagine you are at home wearing your New Hampshire citizen hat, and you get a call from a pollster asking the following question: Do you approve of the job President Obama is doing?” the moderator asked. “Now, there will be a chance to follow up, but this is a yes or no answer. Do you approve, yes or no?”

The answer: “In some ways I approve and some things I don’t approve.”

Shaheen is running against former Massachusetts Republican senator Scott Brown.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.)

Landrieu has been, perhaps, the most blunt Democrat of the bunch in distancing herself from Obama.

“Landrieu has fought loudly against the president’s energy policies, has scurried so far to the right that she even opposes legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, though her leading Republican opponent supports it,” the New York Times writes.

She also put together a campaign ad that shows the degree to which she opposes the president’s energy policies.

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.)

Hagan, like Pryor, was also put on the spot by MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt when she was asked if she thought President Obama was a strong leader. Hunt asked this question three times.

“President Obama has a lot on his plate,” Hagan answered the first time, “and it seems like whether it’s the oil spill that took place a number of years ago in the gulf, to this Ebola crisis now, to ISIS gaining strength. I mean you look at all the combination of things like that.”

“With Ebola, we’ve definitely been late to the table making decisions on that, being sure that CDC understands and gets messages out to hospitals,” she responded the second time.

“Certainly there are issues I think on … no,” she said on her third try.

Hagan was also conspicuously absent recently from a public television debate with Republican challenger Thom Tillis.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow excoriated Hagan for her absence:

See the empty chair there? The moderator explained that Thom Tillis’ answers wouldn’t be timed — as they were otherwise planning on timing them — because nobody else needs to talk because the Democratic incumbent Senator, Kay Hagan, would not be attending that debate.

So for you, voters, we present this hour-long conversation with just the Republican candidate on TV for an hour, uncontested so we can tell you what he thinks without any time constraints and without anybody rudely interrupting. Two weeks before election day? Did I mention this race is basically tied? I did mention that.

President Obama certainly hasn’t done these Democrats any favors with his 41 percent approval rating or his “my policies are on the ballot” remarks, but only time will tell if these facts or the deflection tactics above will have any real effect on the results.