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President Barack Obama's chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod, called Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich the "godfather of gridlock" Monday on MSNBC's "Daily Rundown."
MSNBC host Chuck Todd asked Axelrod, "Why are you the only ones attacking Mitt Romney and not the Republicans?"
"Jon Huntsman is attacking him in New Hampshire," he said. "I was amused by the Newt Gingrich ad because he talked about how he's going to bring the country together to solve problems. You talk about the godfather of gridlock here. The guy who two decades ago really invented the kind of tactics that have now become commonplace in Washington. So, this is a whole new Newt," he said.
"We heard it here first, it's the Obama case against Newt," said Todd.
"Well, I think it may be the public's case against him. I don't think people want to go back to that," replied Axelrod.
In previous television appearances, Axelrod has primarily attacked Mitt Romney.
Vice President Joe Biden also mentioned Gingrich in an interview with reporters Sunday in Athens with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. "I don't want to sound like Newt Gingrich," said a smiling Biden, according to the Wall Street Journal. "I don't want to sound like I'm inflating my importance or relationship with him," he continued, referring to the prime minister. "But we have listened to each other. And he was genuinely listening to my perspective and wasn't challenging it."
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