MOUNT VERNON, Ohio, (Reuters) – Not long ago, Republican Mitt Romney’s crowds on the campaign trail were mostly in the hundreds, he was fading in the polls and his calls to create jobs by limiting government’s reach seemed overrun by his own missteps.
Then a new Mitt Romney emerged.
The U.S. presidential challenger outmaneuvered a subdued President Barack Obama in their first debate last week, has pulled even with – or ahead of – Obama in national polls, and has seen crowds of thousands of people turn out for him in Ohio this week.
Yesterday, the campaign became a spat over how Romney got there – and whether his hints of moving to the political center on abortion, taxes and other issues reflected a truly “Moderate Mitt” or was a conservative’s sleight of hand, aimed at snaring moderate voters in a tight race for the White House.
At issue was an interview in which Romney told the Des Moines Register newspaper that he had no plans for legislation to restrict abortion, one of the great dividing lines between conservatives and liberals in American politics.
The statement seemed to contrast with the staunch anti-abortion stance Romney had taken this year while trying to attract conservatives’ votes during the battle for the Republican presidential nomination.
Romney clarified his position on Wednesday. “I’ve said time and again that I’m a pro-life candidate and I’ll be a pro-life president,” he told reporters. As Massachusetts governor he had supported keeping abortion legal but says he later changed his mind.
Obama’s campaign and abortion-rights groups pounced.
They said it was the latest example of hypocrisy or truth-bending by Romney as he tries to carve into Obama’s advantage among women voters and win what Reuters/Ipsos tracking polls show as a dead heat for middle-class voters with annual incomes of $50,000 to $100,000.
“He’s cynically and dishonestly hiding his real positions, but voters shouldn’t be fooled,” said Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter. “On this issue and so many others, women simply cannot trust Mitt Romney.”
Obama also weighed in.
“This is another example of Governor Romney hiding positions he’s been campaigning on for a year and a half,” Obama said in an interview with ABC News, adding that Romney “thinks that it is appropriate for politicians to inject themselves in (healthcare) decisions.”
If Romney were feeling any heat from conservative and evangelical Republicans who are among the most outspoken opponents of abortion rights, it wasn’t evident.
Several activists suggested that it was understood that after securing the Republican nomination last spring, Romney eventually would need to cast himself as more moderate to win the Nov. 6 presidential election.
“No alarm bells here,” Tony Perkins, president of the anti-abortion Family Research Council, told the left-leaning political website TPM yesterday.
Perkins said the Romney campaign called him soon after the Republican nominee’s remarks were published and assured him that Romney was not weakening his opposition to abortion.
“I think the only reason why you’re not seeing a little bit more conservative grumbling … is because conservatives just feel that President Obama is just bad for business,” Republican strategist Ford O’Connell said.
Romney’s running mate, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan, is strongly opposed to abortion rights. Ryan, preparing for a televised debate on Thursday against Vice President Joe Biden, told reporters in St. Petersburg, Florida, that “our position’s unified” on abortion.
“Our position’s consistent and hasn’t changed,” Ryan said.
