Sesame Street to Obama: Leave Big Bird out of it

Sesame Street is asking the Obama campaign to take down a recent ad that uses Big Bird to attack Mitt Romney.

After Romney said in last week's debate that he would cut funding to PBS, despite saying how much he loved Big Bird, the Obama campaign has been on the attack, using Big Bird’s name in a new attack ad released on Thursday. But hours after the ad’s release, Sesame Street asked that it be left out of all political advertising.

“Sesame Workshop is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and we do not endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns,” the show said in a statement. “We have approved no campaign ads, and as is our general practice, have requested that the ad be taken down.”

Since Big Bird has made his presidential debut, he’s already appeared on NBC's Saturday Night Live and become an online sensation. But the Romney campaign has not been too keen on this latest focus.

“I just find it troubling that the president's message, the president's focus, 28 days before Election Day is Big Bird,” Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said on Tuesday, according to pool reports.

The Republican National Committee on Tuesday has been using part of Obama’s 2008 convention speech to attack the Obama campaign's Big Bird theme.

“If you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters,” the president said in Denver. “If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things.”

Several news organizations reported that the Obama campaign is reviewing the current complaints.