ANN ROMNEY has been pushed to the frontline of her husband’s election campaign to defend Republican policies on women. This follows criticism from a high-profile Democrat that she was out of touch because she had “never worked a day in her life”.
The comments from Hilary Rosen, a Democratic strategist (for which she later apologised), handed the Romney campaign a chance to address women directly at a time when opinion polls record them as strongly favouring Barack Obama.
While Democrats have long enjoyed a gender gap in their favour, the prolonged Republican nomination battle, which strayed from the economy to attacks on contraception and federal funding for abortion, stretched it further.
The Romney campaign has made great use of Mrs Romney, an accomplished speaker who is popular on the conservative campaign trail, in an attempt to connect with women voters.
However, Ms Rosen, who is not part of Mr Obama’s re-election team, said on CNN on Wednesday night that Mrs Romney, who is a mother to five sons and who has also dealt with serious illness, had “never worked a day in her life”.
Mrs Romney was quick to respond. On a newly opened Twitter account, which attracted more than 12,000 followers within hours, she said: “I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work.”
White House advisers believe that many suburban mothers were willing to get behind the president again, especially on social issues, as the economy improved. But disputes like that sparked by Ms Rosen threaten to undo that.
Evidence of how damaging her comments were came in the rapid response of Mr Obama’s re-election advisers who quickly sought to distance themselves from the remarks.
“I could not disagree with Hilary Rosen any more strongly,” Jim Messina, the president’s campaign manager, wrote in a tweet. “Her comments were wrong and family should be off limits. She should apologise.”
Michelle Obama, the first lady, also tweeted that: “Every mother works hard, and every woman deserves to be respected.”
On Fox News on Wednesday, Mrs Romney said her “career choice was to be a mother” and that “we need to respect choices that women make”.
Asked how she could understand the circumstances of many mothers who did not raise their children with the benefit of the kind of fortune that her husband had earned, she said she had “compassion” for people struggling.
Separately, the Susan B Anthony List anti-abortion group was due to endorse Mr Romney yesterday, in the latest sign that conservatives are rallying around a candidate once considered too moderate. Following social conservative Rick Santorum’s withdrawal, Mr Romney is courting his supporters, as well as appealing to moderates and independents.
– (The Financial Times Ltd 2012)