Newark Mayor Cory Booker Breaks Ranks, Hits Obama for Anti-Romney Bain Ad: 'Stop Attacking Private Equity

Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker's national star has been rising in recent weeks: First it was rescuing his neighbors from a fire, then he spoofed himself alongside N.J. Gov. Chris Christie in a "Seinfeld"-inspired video skit.

But Booker, a Democrat and surrogate for the Obama campaign, may just have opened himself up to a new barrage of news coverage: He briefly broke ranks and criticized Obama's recent attack ad against Mitt Romney.

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Booker said he was "very uncomfortable" with the ad blasting Romney's time at Bain Capital, saying he's "not about to sit here and indict private equity."

"To me, we’re just getting to a ridiculous point in America," he said. "Especially, I know, I live in a state where pension funds, unions and other people are investing in companies like Bain Capital. If you look at the totality of Bain Capital’s record -- they’ve done a lot to support businesses, to grow businesses and this to me, I’m very uncomfortable."

The Republican National Committee quickly seized on Booker's remarks and highlighted them on its website.

Still, Booker's attack wasn't one-sided: He called reports this week about a plan to use Rev. Jeremiah Wright to attack Obama equally reprehensible.

"This kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides,” he said. “It’s nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough.”

“Stop attacking private equity,” he continued. “Stop attacking Jeremiah Wright. This stuff has got to stop, because what it does is it undermines, to me, what this country should be focused on. It’s a distraction from the real issues. It’s either going to be a small campaign about this crap or it’s going to be a big campaign, in my opinion, about the issues that the American public cares about.”

Watch below, via NBC: