Obama campaign chief political consultant David Axelrod told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday that if his boss loses either Pennsylvania, Michigan, or Minnesota, he'll shave off his mustache:

David Axelrod: I will come on Morning Joe and I will shave off my moustache of 40 years if we lose any of those three states. And I think they know that as well.

Mika Brzezinski: Wait, on 8:29 [am] . . .

Joe Scarborough: Hold, hold on. Hold on one second, now you're going to do that on air? OK, hold on a second, I may contribute to one of the Super PACs. If you lose Minnesota, Michigan, or Pennsylvania you will shave off that mustache?

Mika Brzezinski: On the show?

Axelrod has a decent enough mustache, but it doesn't compare to John Bolton's. Breitbart News wonders if Ambassador Bolton might take Axelrod up on his mustache challenge. The former ambassador has not responded to a request for comment.

Regardless of the course Mr. Bolton takes, the "Axelrod Challenge" may be a motivator for activists in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, as Mr. Scarborough jokingly implied it would be to him. Just as the first week of September saw a viral phenomenon of empty chair pictures following Clint Eastwood's RNC speech, perhaps the first week of November will bring photographs of cans of shaving cream in anticipation of Mr. Axelrod's clean shave after the election.