Des Moines, Iowa— A member of Newt Gingrich’s campaign staff in Iowa was asked to resign Tuesday after disparaging comments he had made about Mitt Romney surfaced.
Craig Bergman, the political director for Newt 2012 in Iowa said last Wednesday that some pastors are on the “anti-Mitt Romney bandwagon.” Craig Bergman during a focus group on Wednesday with The Iowa Republican and McClatchy newspapers said he thinks Romney’s religion will eventually cost him votes. “A lot of the evangelicals believe God would give us four more years of Obama just for the opportunity to expose the cult of Mormon. There’s a thousand pastors ready to do that,” Bergman said last week to a Republican focus group.
In the same focus group Bergman also was critical of Gingrich, calling him the “smartest unwise man in America.” Bergman had just begun working as a political director for Newt 2012 last week, and had participated in The Iowa Republican’s focus group prior to joining the campaign. According to their website, the focus group included a retiree, a college student, Tea Party members, a GOP county co-chair, and some influential consultants.
Craig Bergman’s “stint with the Gingrich campaign has to be one of the shortest in history” — he was hired five days ago and was fired today for something he said last week.
On the same day Newt Gingrich issued a memo to staffers and supporters that he would run a positive campaign, the presidential candidate fired his Iowa political director after learning the new hire had called Mormonism a "cult."
"Craig Bergman agreed to step away from his role with Newt 2012 today," said spokesman R.C. Hammond in a statement. "He made a comment to a focus group prior to becoming an employee that is inconsistent with Newt 2012's pledge to run a positive and solutions orientated campaign."
The episode has once again entered the issue of Romney's Mormonism into the political bloodstream, albeit briefly, and with less thunder than the pastor backing Rick Perry committed the same act earlier this year. It also gives Gingrich something tangible to point to on the trail about running the clean campaign he has pledged.
Sources:
ABC News
Blogrunner
legalews
The Other McCain
POLITICO
CBS News
The Hill
politics
businessinsider
Craig Bergman, the political director for Newt 2012 in Iowa said last Wednesday that some pastors are on the “anti-Mitt Romney bandwagon.” Craig Bergman during a focus group on Wednesday with The Iowa Republican and McClatchy newspapers said he thinks Romney’s religion will eventually cost him votes. “A lot of the evangelicals believe God would give us four more years of Obama just for the opportunity to expose the cult of Mormon. There’s a thousand pastors ready to do that,” Bergman said last week to a Republican focus group.
In the same focus group Bergman also was critical of Gingrich, calling him the “smartest unwise man in America.” Bergman had just begun working as a political director for Newt 2012 last week, and had participated in The Iowa Republican’s focus group prior to joining the campaign. According to their website, the focus group included a retiree, a college student, Tea Party members, a GOP county co-chair, and some influential consultants.
Craig Bergman’s “stint with the Gingrich campaign has to be one of the shortest in history” — he was hired five days ago and was fired today for something he said last week.
On the same day Newt Gingrich issued a memo to staffers and supporters that he would run a positive campaign, the presidential candidate fired his Iowa political director after learning the new hire had called Mormonism a "cult."
"Craig Bergman agreed to step away from his role with Newt 2012 today," said spokesman R.C. Hammond in a statement. "He made a comment to a focus group prior to becoming an employee that is inconsistent with Newt 2012's pledge to run a positive and solutions orientated campaign."
The episode has once again entered the issue of Romney's Mormonism into the political bloodstream, albeit briefly, and with less thunder than the pastor backing Rick Perry committed the same act earlier this year. It also gives Gingrich something tangible to point to on the trail about running the clean campaign he has pledged.
Sources:
ABC News
Blogrunner
legalews
The Other McCain
POLITICO
CBS News
The Hill
politics
businessinsider
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