COLUMBUS, Ohio — President Obama’s campaign says Mitt Romney’s narrow victory in Ohio on Tuesday is proof that Romney cannot appeal to middle class voters.
“Instead of Super Tuesday it became super-glue day for [Mitt Romney],”Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said on a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. “They are still stuck” with rivals Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, he said.
“I think he’s got tremendous problems,” Messina added. “He’s not winning in these states. He’s only limping across the finish line.”
Romney won six of the 10 states that held primary contests on Tuesday, including the key swing state of Ohio, where he eked out a narrow victory over Santorum.
“He lost young voters in every state and he lost middle class voters in every state except Massachusetts,” Messina said. “Independents have bailed on Romney just in time for the general election.”
Obama senior strategist David Axelrod said he is confident that Obama is profiting from Republicans’ “mad scramble” to select a nominee. The influence of super PAC spending on the campaign is keeping Obama’s advisers on their toes, however, and that’s why Axelrod and Messina said they thought it was necessary to hold the conference call.
Tapping into a hot-button issue for Democrats, Axelrod criticized Romney on his muted response to derisive comments made by conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, in which Limbaugh called a Georgetown student a “slut” for supporting government-financed birth control.
He said Romney is “afraid to challenge the de facto boss of the Republican primary,” indicating that Limbaugh was controlling the party.
Romney was asked about the issue in Cleveland, Ohio last week.
“I’ll just say this, which is, it’s not the language I would have used,” Romney said. “I’m focusing on the issues that I think are significant in the country today, and that’s why I’m here talking about jobs and Ohio.”
