By MAGGIE HABERMAN | 12/13/11 6:58 PM EST

Within hours of the Des Moines Register report about his new hire saying this week that some evangelicals may vote against Mitt Romney because he's a Mormon, Newt Gingrich's campaign has parted ways with the staffer.

"Craig Bergman agreed to step away from his role with Newt 2012 today," Gingrich spokseman RC Hammond said in a statement. "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 episode has once again entered the issue of Romney's Mormonism into the political bloodstream, albeit briefly, and with less thunder than the pastor backing Rick Perry committed the same act earlier this year. It also gives Gingrich something tangible to point to on the trail about running the clean campaign he has pledged.

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