Etch a Sketch comment a distraction: Ann Romney

GlobalPost

Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, has rushed to her husband's defense after senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom compared Romney's campaign to an Etch a Sketch toy during a CNN interview on Wednesday morning. 

Ann Romney claims that the Etch a Sketch slipup is a "distraction" from her husband's economic message.  

On CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, Ann Romney said that Fehrnstrom was referring to "how we're going to change focus, and we’re going to change, you know, what we're going to do in the organizational sense of changing. Not Mitt changing positions."

The Etch a Sketch commment came on the heels of Mitt Romney's big win in Illinois, and a high-value endorsement from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Instead of basking in the glory, Mitt Romney had to clean up Fehrnstrom's gaffe. 

“I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign, everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch, you can kind of shake it up and we start all over again,” he said to comedian John Fugelsang during the CNN interview, Politico reported.  

Mitt Romney has fought the perception of being a flip-flopper on issues like gay marriage and abortion through out his campaign.

The New York Daily News reported that the comment will likely haunt Mitt Romney in the days leading up to Saturday's Louisiana primary. 

"This is obviously not a helpful thing to say if your candidate is known for his political malleability," wrote Politico's Alexander Burns. "But it’s also only one inept simile away from comments that a whole host of Republicans and Romney supporters have made before, suggesting that the political landscape will reset around before the fall campaign." 

More from GlobalPost: Romney's senior adviser compares his campaign to an Etch a Sketch

[View the story "Romney advisor's Etch a Sketch comment goes viral" on Storify]
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