Tea party favorite Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) slammed former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s political and policy history in an op-ed in the Des Moines Register.

Paul declared Gingrich is “not from the tea party. He is not even a conservative.” Nominating the Georgia Republican would be “a giant leap backward” because he is a “big government, status quo Republican,” Paul wrote in the piece, which also criticized the Georgia Republican’s work with Freddie Mac and his endorsement of moderate Republican Congressional candidate Dede Scozzafava in 2009.

Paul’s father, Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) trailed Gingrich in the latest Des Moines Register poll ahead of the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. The younger Paul wrote that his father “was publicly warning about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the crisis they were helping to create,” while “Gingrich was earning millions to not only endorse but also promote the status quo.”

Paul spent most of the piece denigrating Gingrich, but also noted that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is “a moderate, northeastern, don’t-rock-the-boat Republican, and I think everyone in the party clearly understands that.”

His father’s campaign sent out an “In Case You Missed It” press release with excerpts of the op-ed.