Video: Obama campaign stands by Big Bird ad

Following a request by PBS for the Obama campaign to take down its new attack ad featuring Big Bird, the campaign appears to be standing by the 30-second spot.

Obama campaign senior adviser Robert Gibbs said on Wednesday that he was unaware of any efforts to take down the ad, saying that it spoke to broader issues regarding Mitt Romney’s policies.

“Mitt Romney took to the debate and said, ‘I'm going to get tough by ending Downton Abbey and go to war with Sesame Street, and let Wall Street off the hook as we go forward with financial reform,’” Gibbs said on NBC’s Today. “Look, we can't have a president that does that.”

Jen Psaki, the Obama campaign's traveling press secretary, followed a similar line on Tuesday. “There’s only one candidate in this race who is going to continue to fight for Big Bird and Elmo, and he is riding on this plane,” she said.

Psaki said, though, the campaign was reviewing the request to take down the ad.

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden called the ad “troubling” on Tuesday, while Romney said “you have to scratch your head” at the Obama campaign’s strategy.

The ad is running on national cable channels.