Gingrich Aide Canned Over 'Cult of Mormon' Comment

Newt Gingrich's Iowa political director is out of a job after less than a week because of disparaging remarks he made about Mitt Romney's Mormon faith, the Des Moines Register reports. "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," Craig Bergman told a focus group last week. "There's a thousand pastors ready to do that."

Bergman—a Tea Party activist who was part of a grassroots movement seeking a Sarah Palin White House bid—"agreed to step away from his role with Newt 2012," a Gingrich spokesman says. "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 departure is a setback for the Gingrich campaign in Iowa, just as polls show Ron Paul pulling even. (More Mitt Romney 2012 stories.)