President Barack Obama’s senior campaign adviser David Axelrod on Friday said this week’s Republican National Convention served as more of a launching pad for the party’s future presidential candidates than an event to promote the current GOP nominee.
“It felt like open mic night for 2016 candidates and not a convention that seemed to be promoting Mitt Romney in 2012,” Axelrod told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “But you know, we will see. Obviously, what happens in the next few weeks will reflect part of what people saw here and maybe they received it differently than I perceive they did. But I don’t — I think they did a lot of work whipping each other up, and you know, hitting the tea party base and the social conservative base and presenting their future talent. I don’t think they did much to advance the cause of Mitt Romney.”
This year’s RNC included a slew of speakers pegged as rising stars within the party, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
