'I don’t know that I have any particular reaction,' Romney said. Mitt responds to Mormon slam

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer isn’t backing away from controversial comments he made about Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith. Instead, the Democrat is doubling down.

Through a statement from a senior adviser, Schweitzer stood by his claim that Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, would have a hard time narrowing the gender gap with President Barack Obama because his “family came from a polygamy commune in Mexico,” and because women are “not great fans of polygamy.”


“The governor meant what he said, precisely. It has nothing to do with Mr. Romney’s faith or the Mormon church, both of which the governor knows reject polygamy,” Schweitzer adviser Eric Stern said in a statement to POLITICO.

“Rather, Mr. Schweitzer was describing a strategic problem that Romney faces, politically speaking: that Romney is in serious trouble with Hispanic voters because [he] took an ultra right-wing position on immigration during the primary; that to reach out to Hispanic voters Romney would probably like to be able to discuss the fact that his father was born in Mexico; but, that this is awkward for Romney to discuss, because it requires discussing, as well, the fact that his father was born into a polygamy colony.”

Romney set the record straight in an interview on Fox News Friday afternoon without directly attacking Schweitzer.

“I don’t know that I have any particular reaction,” he said.

“My dad’s dad was not a polygamist. My dad grew up in a family with a mom and a dad and a few brothers and one sister,” he said. “They lived in Mexico and lived a very nice life there from what I understand and then when he was , I think five or six years old there was a revolution in Mexico. They escaped. I believe they went to El Paso first, and were helped by the government to get on their feet and then his dad went around the country, Los Angeles, I think Idaho, Utah, went broke more than once. My dad had a very tough upbringing.”

While Stern’s statement backs up Schweitzer’s original comments, it’s far softer — and much more nuanced — than a statement he provided earlier to The Daily Beast, which published Schweitzer’s initial remarks.

“The governor believes exactly what he said: that Romney is in a pickle,” Stern said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “Romney will probably not choose to highlight his own family’s connection to Mexico as a way of reaching out to Hispanics, because that history involves a polygamy colony, which is something that Romney doesn’t like to discuss.”

Schweitzer’s comments are the latest example of a string of third parties to the campaign setting off political firestorms with their words, from Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen, who criticized Ann Romney, to rocker Ted Nugent, who slammed Obama.

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has disavowed the comments, and has long said that “attacking a candidate’s religion is out of bounds.”