Jindal, O'Malley Bicker Over Relevance of Romney's Wealth

Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley and Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, both potential 2016 presidential candidates, used a joint television appearance on Sunday to squabble over whether Mitt Romney's personal wealth was a distraction from the 2012 campaign's real issues.

Appearing on ABC's This Week, Jindal said -- predictably -- that the campaign's focus should be on President Obama's economic record, which he called "a failure." But just as predictably, O'Malley saw it differently, and in his brief appearance made five separate mentions of "Swiss bank accounts" -- a reference to an overseas holding of Romney's that was closed in 2010 and that Democrats have seized on to paint their rival as out of touch.

"I've never known of a Swiss bank account to build an American bridge, a Swiss bank account to create American jobs, or Swiss bank accounts to rebuild the levees to protect the people of New Orleans," O'Malley said. "That's not an economic strategy for moving our country forward."

Jindal countered: "I think voters will consider all of the distractions thrown out by the Obama campaign. But at the end of the day, this election is about two fundamental choices. It's about President Obama, who wants to continue to spend money we don't have."