You looking at me? Newt Gingrich wants a piece of Robert De Niro

Mr Gingrich managed to thrust himself briefly back into the spotlight by calling the comments "beyond the pale" and demanding that Barack Obama apologise on De Niro's behalf.

"What De Niro said last night was inexcusable and the president should apologize for him. It was at an Obama fundraiser, it is exactly wrong, it divides the country. What de Niro said was beyond the pale and he should be ashamed of himself," he said at an event in Louisiana.

Adapting a common Gingrich riff against America's "elites" and railing against the high price of petrol, the Republican hopeful said the Raging Bull star had "missed the whole point".

"De Niro is rich enough he probably hasn't noticed the price of gasoline. He's successful enough he probably doesn't notice the unemployment rate and as a Hollywood actor he may well be short-sighted enough he hasn't seen what the deficit is going to do to our children and our children's children," he said.

A spokeswoman for the Obama campaign said: "We believe the joke was inappropriate." De Niro's publicist said the comment was "obvious satire".

The Republican race goes to Illinois tonight where Mr Gingrich is expected to finish a poor third behind both Mr Santorum and Mr Romney.