David Axelrod (Photo: Twitter)

President Barack Obama's longtime strategy guru David Axelrod has signed on for a post-campaign gig as a "senior political analyst" for NBC News and MSNBC. Mr. Axelrod previously served as a senior strategist for President Obama in the 2008 and 2012 campaigns. During the president's first term, he was on the White House staff as a senior advisor.

Mr. Axelrod joins several other big names in NBC and MSNBC's stable of political analysts. His counterpart from the 2008 campaign, former advisor to John McCain Steve Schmidt, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele and former Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell all work as analysts for MSNBC. Mr. Axelrod is the only one in this group who will be working for the NBC's traditional broadcast news operation as well as the more left-leaning, opinionated MSNBC cable channel. Another former Obama administration official, ex-Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, also signed on to do double-duty as a contributor to both NBC News and MSNBC last month.

MSNBC isn't the only cable channel that has signed on new recruits from the political world in the aftermath of last year's election cycle. Last week, Fox News announced the hiring of both former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown and former presidential candidate Herman Cain as contributors to the network.

A bubble-blowing protesters at the anti-Axelrod demonstration. (Photo: CNN)

When David Axelrod gave his Boston press conference slamming Mitt Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts this morning, he was greeted by a group of young protesters including several well dressed young volunteers from Mr. Romney's nearby national campaign headquarters. Rick Gorka, the Romney campaign's traveling press secretary, told The Politicker "around 75" Romney suppporters turned out to protest Mr. Axelrod.

"The main point of us being there was to welcome Mr. Axelrod to Boston and to remind reporters of Governor Romney's record of creating jobs and balancing the budget in Massachusetts," Mr. Gorka said. "We had some campaign volunteers ... we had some supporters. It was a good group of folks who came out to help us in our project." The Romney campaign also quickly scheduled a rival press conference about an hour before Mr. Axelrod's appearance when they learned of his visit last night. Mr. Gorka said it was a youthful demonstration, which he believes should scare President Barack Obama.

"They were younger kids. They are frustrated with what's going on in this economy," said Mr. Gorka. "Young people were a very important voting bloc four years ago when he was running and, after four years, his policies have led to having college grads coming out underemployed and unemployed."

David Axelrod (Photo: Twitter)

The web video begins with footage of Mr. Romney vowing to improve the Massachusetts economy by creating jobs while running for governor and turns to similar claims he has made during this presidential race. Several members of the Massachusetts Legislature former mayors and the current Mayor of Melrose then share their opinions that Mr. Romney's policies led to less jobs, more debt for the state and a long list of fees for residents.

"There are times when I watch Mitt Romney saying the exact same things now that he said here in Massachusetts in 2002 in a robotic way that is completely hollow," State Representative Carl Sciortino says in the clip. "It didn't work here, so I'm not quite sure why he thinks it would work nationally."

Watch the Obama campaign's Massachusetts attack ad below.

David Axelrod (Photo: Twitter)

Senior Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod told our colleagues over at PolitickerNJ that he has made his peace with Cory Booker in the wake of the controversy that dominated the news cycle this week following Mr. Booker's comments he finds the Obama campaign's attacks on Mitt Romney's career at Bain Capital "nauseating."

"We disagree, but to the extent that he clarified his remarks, I think it's fine," Mr. Axelrod said. 

On Monday, as the Bain brouhaha reached fever pitch, Mr. Axelrod criticized Mr. Booker's comments as "just wrong" in a TV appearance. Amid the growing controversy, Mr. Booker clarified his comments, which were made on Sunday's episode of Meet The Press with a YouTube video and an appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show.

Mr. Axelrod spoke to PolitickerNJ at an appearance in Wood-Ridge, New Jersey where he endorsed Democratic congressional candidate Steve Rothman. He also said he didn't think Mr. Booker, who has been an Obama campaign surrogate, should stay off the campaign trail as a result of the controversy.

David Axelrod (Photo: Twitter)

Obama campaign senior strategist David Axelrod defended the campaign's continued attacks on Mitt Romney's work with Bain Capital in an appearance on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports this afternoon. Mr. Axelrod said Bain is a legitimate campaign issue because Mr. Romney regularly touts his business career and because some of the episodes at the company are "disturbing."

"Governor Romney offers his business experience as his principal and really his chief credential for running for office, he never talks about his years as Massachusetts governor and I think for good reason because they weren't stellar years. This is his argument: ‘I was a businessman. I can lead the economy.’ So it behooves us to ask exactly ‘what did you do?’" Mr. Axelrod said. "Some of these cases are disturbing and deserve to be looked at. ... He can't walk away from this."

Mr. Axelrod specifically cited GST Steel, a Kansas City company that went bankrupt while being managed by Bain. The Obama campaign has released an ad focusing on GST Steel.

"He was there throughout when they loaded this company with debt and he was there when they filed for bankruptcy," Mr. Axelrod said. "He shared in the proceeds of that when they made money even as workers lost not just their jobs, but also their retirement benefits. And that’s not right."

The Obama campaign's attacks on Bain were criticized as "nauseating" Sunday by Newark mayor and campaign surrogate Cory Booker in an appearance on NBC's Meet The Press. Mr. Booker subsequently released a video clarifying his comments by saying the focus on Bain is legitimate because Mr. Romney has made his work there “a centerpiece of his campaign.”

Mitt Romney (Photo: Getty)

With President Obama releasing a $25 million blitzkrieg of campaign ads, his top advisors David Axelrod and Jim Messina had a press conference call with reporters this morning to discuss his branding strategy. They said the president's message this election cycle will focus on his record and his desire to keep the country progressing. Messrs. Messina and Axelrod contrasted this with Mitt Romney, who they predicted would lean on negative attacks because he, in Mr. Messina's words, "truly has no record to run on."

"We have a very simple choice between going forward and going back," Mr. Messina said when describing the main message of the president's new campaign commercials.

President Obama's advisors said Mr. Romney can't focus on his acheivements in business and as governor of Massachusetts because he failed to create jobs in the Bay State and, while in the private sector, he promoted layoffs and outsourcing before, as Mr. Messina put it, "making off with millions."

"Mitt Romney truly has no record to run on," Mr. Messina said. "We probably won't see any ads in this cycle that talk accurately about his record, because he has nothing to say."

As evidence of this, Mr. Axelrod claimed Mr. Romney "went through his whole kickoff speech ... without ever mentioning he was Governor of Massachusetts."

Rather than highlighting his record, Mr. Axelrod said he expects Mr. Romney to release a barrage of negative ads.

"Governor Romney has run ... something in the order of $55 million of media already in this campaign and close to 90 percent of it has been attacking opponents," Mr. Axelrod said. "He's basically reduced to running a negative campaign just as he was in the primaries and hoping that will carry the day.

Mr. Axelrod also said he expected negative ads to come from Super PACs backed by wealthy conservative donors like the "Koch brothers contract killers." He vowed to fight back against those commercials and to treat them as direct assaults from Mr. Romney.

"We will respond vigorously," Mr. Axelrod said.

Mr. Axelrod said President Obama has a "different approach" focused on promoting his record and outlining "a positive vision for the future." The president's television commercials may be taking the high road, but based on today's call, it's abundantly clear his campaign is clearly not shying away from attacking Mr. Romney in the press.

David Axelrod (Photo: Twitter)

There were some glitches on the Obama campaign's conference call with reporters this morning, but senior advisor David Axelrod knew who to blame. After several reporters waiting in line to ask questions were disconnected when the operator tried to patch them in, Mr. Axelrod joked that the GOP was responsible.

"There's some problem here," Mr. Axelrod said. "Republicans will stop at nothing."

The Politicker and others were unable to get our questions through on the call.

Jim Messina, Obama For America's campaign manager, joked that perhaps reporters were hanging up because he and Mr. Axelrod had eliminated any possible questions by being "so eloquent" on the call. Mr. Axelrod said he preferred his original explanation.

Joe Biden (Photo: Getty)

Senior Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod said Vice President Joe Biden's recent comments on gay marriage are absolutely in line with President Obama's policies during a conference call with reporters this morning.

"In terms of the Vice President's remarks, ...  I think they were entirely consistent with the president's position, which is that couples who are married, whether they are gay or heterosexual couples are entitled to the very same liberties ... When people are married, we ought to recognize those marriages and afford them the rights to which they are entitled."

Mr. Axelrod described this as the "essence from a policy basis" of Mr. Biden's comments.

Mr. Biden's remarks, which were made in an interview on NBC's "Meet The Press" have  made headlines and raised eyebrows this weekend with comments on gay marriage. Many observers characterized the comments as a trip "off the reservation" and away from the president's positions on the issue.

"I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties," Mr. Biden said. "Quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction beyond that."

Though Biden's remarks caused quite a stir, he's said the exact same thing about the issue in the past.

In 2008, Mr. Biden outlined his comfort with gay marriage during a vice presidential debate against Sarah Palin.

"Do I support granting same sex benefits? Absolutely. Positively," Mr. Biden said. "Look, in an Obama/Biden administration there will be absolutely no distinction from a constitutional standpoint or a legal standpooint between a same sex and a heterosexual couple."

Though he expressed support for gay couples in that debate, Mr. Biden made it clear there were limits to that support when he was asked specifically whether he supports allowing marriages between a man and a woman.

"No. Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage. We do not support that. That is basically a decision to be able to be left to the faiths and people who practice their faiths," Mr. Biden said. "The bottom line though is, ... there should be no civil rights distinction, none whatsoever between a committed gay couple and a committed heterosexual couple."

Though President Obama and Vice President Biden stop short of a full fledged push to legalize same sex marriage nationwide, Mr. Axelrod said "there couldn't be a starker contrast on this issue" between the president and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney.

"Governor Romney ... has funded efforts to roll back marriage laws in California and other places," Mr. Axelrod said adding that Mr. Romney, "believes that we need a constitutional amendment banning the right of gay couples to marry and would take us backward not forward."

"If you are willing to change positions on fundamental issues of principle how are we to know what you would do as president?" Mr. Axelrod said. He was inspired to call for the press call after watching the G.O.P. debate last night in which he said Mr. Romney reversed himself from previous positions on the economy, health care reform and social issues.

"If this were just one instance you would say maybe it was a momentary lapse may be he succumbed to the politics of the moment. But it is a pattern, time and time again," Mr. Axelrod said.

He particularly bashed the former Massachusetts governor for opposing the payroll tax cut that is part of Mr. Obama's jobs plan.

"The thing that was most stunning--I shouldn’t say stunning given his history--but the most appalling thing about that was just two months ago Gov. Romney was equally vehement in support of this payroll tax cut," Mr. Axelrod said.

Mr. Axelrod declined to say if the thought that Mr. Romney would be the nominee, but when asked why he wasn't criticizing other Republicans in the field, like Rick Perry or Herman Cain, Mr. Axelrod quipped, "That's the two o'clock call" then went back to knocking Mr. Romney.

"One of his problems has been that he has not inspired a whole lot of confidence or enthusiasm among Republicans because I think across the political spectrum people have the same questions," Mr. Axelrod said. "I don't presume to say he is the nominee but he does deserve to be scrutinized."