DES MOINES, Iowa – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tried to keep the mood light at a rally in Iowa on Saturday by dishing up a few jokes and teasing his son in front of the crowd.
After delivering a short stump speech, Romney pivoted to introduce his son, Josh, saying, “I’m going to mention this tall good-looking guy next to me here.” But instead of turning toward Josh, Romney twirled around and shook hands with a supporter nearby.
“I’m just checking them all out up here,” he told the crowd, laughing at his joke.
When he finally got around to introducing his son, Romney said Josh “really should be the politician in the family.”
“I would get so upset at my boys for something they had done, one or the other of them, and feel they need a punishment of some kind — and I wont tell you exactly all the punishments and so forth,” he said. “[But] Josh at this very young age… he was maybe four, he was able to drop his voice like two octaves and … when I’d grab him by the arm and rush him up to his bedroom he would turn to me and say, ‘Don’t hurt froggy.'”
Romney dropped his voice in imitation of his son.
“‘Don’t hurt froggy,’ he would say… and I would bust up laughing. He’s never been punished,” Romney said.
Perhaps former House Speaker Newt Gingrich should try the same tactic on the debate stage Saturday night, one voter joked, in light of the Romney campaign’s recent attacks against Gingrich.
Romney closed his remarks by offering to sign voter memorabilia, saying, “If you don’t have anything to sign, just undo your shirt — and we’ll sign your arm.” The crowd laughed.
