FRENCH CONNECTION

Axelrod: GOP Under ‘Reign of Terror’

Blames hardline conservatives for problems.

Hardline conservatives are dragging the Republican Party down, Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “I think there are a lot of Republicans in Congress who want to cooperate,” Axelrod said, “but they’re in the thralls of this reign of terror from the far right that has dragged the party to the right.” The strategist cited opposition to the White House’s attempts at immigration reform as an example of the kind of “monolithic opposition” that he said has driven moderate Republicans, including GOP candidate Mitt Romney, to take more-extreme conservative stances on many issues.