Greeley, Colorado (CNN) - In Colorado Paul Ryan added to the chorus of criticism against President Barack Obama for suggesting a "secretary of business" cabinet-level position be created.
Obama floated the idea during an MSNBC interview on Monday, before Superstorm Sandy made landfall, so the Republican presidential campaign waited days to go after their Democratic challenger.
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On Thursday they pounced with an ad, and Mitt Romney and his running mate mocked the proposal at separate events.
"You know, we already have a secretary of business. It's actually called secretary of commerce," Ryan said at a rally in Greeley, Colorado. "Let me ask you a question: can anybody name our current secretary of commerce? You know why? We don't have one! It's been vacant for over four months and the president hasn't even proposed to put somebody in the job."
During his interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," the president said he wanted to "consolidate a whole bunch of government agencies" that deal with various types of American businesses.
"We should have one secretary of business, instead of nine different departments that are dealing with things like getting loans to SBA [the Small Business Administration] or helping companies with exports," Obama said Monday. "There should be a one-stop shop."
The Romney-Ryan campaign framed the remark as another attempt at big government from the Democratic incumbent.
"We don't need another bureaucrat or another bureaucracy, we need another president," Ryan said, who spoke in Northern Colorado after Romney weighed in at a rally in Virginia.
In Roanoke the Republican presidential nominee renewed his attacks on Obama for not offering an agenda. "We don't need a secretary of business to understand business. We need a president who understands business, and I do," Romney said.
During Ryan's visit to Colorado's Weld County, which GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain carried with 53% of the vote in 2008, he said, "President Obama is going to be running around just this week and for the next five days explaining why he just needs four more years to get it all right."
CNN Political Producer Rachel Streitfeld contributed to this report.