Herman Cain may have captured the lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, but it’s clear that the White House still considers Mitt Romney to be President Obama’s chief rival.

On a Sunday morning appearance on NBC’s Meet The Press, Senior White House Adviser David Plouffe declined to directly answer the question “Is Herman Cain for real?” Instead, Plouffe used the opportunity to launch a vicious attack against Romney.

“[Romney] has no core. … You know, he was supportive of doing things like a cap and trade agreement. Now he doesn’t think that, you know, climate change is real. He was to the left of Ted Kennedy on gay rights issues. Now he wants to amend the constitution [on] gay marriage. He was an extremely pro-choice governor. Now he believes that life begins at conception.”

Plouffe went on to declare that “if [Romney] thought it was good to say the sky was green and the grass was blue, to win an election, he’d say it.”

The fact that Plouffe chose to answer a question about Herman Cain with an attack on Mitt Romney makes it clear that the White House is gearing up for a campaign against the former Massachusetts governor, not the former pizza magnate.

Video of Plouffe’s comments is below:

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