Mitt Romney won the first battle of the 2012 general election, with his camp handily beating President Barack Obama on the question of whether motherhood counts as work, Nicolle Wallace says.
The Democrats completely mishandled strategist Hilary Rosen’s attack on Romney’s wife Ann while the GOP took the ball and ran with it just far enough, the former adviser to President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain told
CBS News.
“The Romney campaign has handled this brilliantly and kudos to them,” Wallace said.
Rosen made her comment on Wednesday, the first day since Rick Santorum, Romney’s closest competitor for the Republican nomination, dropped out of the race. She criticized Ann Romney, saying she had “never worked a day in her life,” despite raising five sons. Rosen later apologized, saying she had chosen her words poorly.
The women’s vote is seen as vital in the November election and polls show Obama has a healthy lead at this point. Within a day of Rosen’s comment, the Romney campaign had started selling “Moms Drive the Economy” bumper stickers for $6, Politico reported.
In a message to supporters, Romney senior adviser Beth Myers said, “If you're a stay-at-home mom, the Democrats have a message for you: You’ve never worked a day in your life,” the website said.
Wallace said Ann Romney’s appearance on Fox News to discuss Rosen’s attack meant she “was able to connect in an instant to every woman in the country by defending her decision to raise five boys.”
She said the Democrats had handled the situation “in a disgraceful manner” putting a series of “mobbish men” on television to attack one of their own.
On Thursday night, the president added his voice to other party leaders who had slammed Rosen’s comments. Obama described them as “wrong,” saying spouses should be left out of campaign arguments.
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