“Every moment between now and November should be spent talking about the No. 1 issue for women and men, and that’s the economy,” said Kerry Healey, who was Mr. Romney’s lieutenant governor in Massachusetts and advises the presidential campaign. “Anything that distracts from that is not what we should be talking about.”
The outcome of the campaign’s bet could be decisive for Mr. Romney, whose Democratic rivals are eagerly seizing on Mr. Akin’s comments as evidence of a cultural disconnect between Republicans and women who find Mr. Akin’s remarks repugnant. But the advisers expressed confidence Wednesday that the media focus would not divert them from the campaign’s central theme.
“Having a discussion like the one surrounding Akin is not helpful; that goes without saying,” said one Republican strategist with close ties to Mr. Romney’s campaign who spoke anonymously about the campaign’s plans. “But the campaign’s not going to change our macro strategy because of Todd Akin.”…
Women “are paying attention to how the hell they pay for gas in the tank, school clothes for the kids,” the adviser said. “We can’t get sidetracked by this.”
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