Romney, Ryan pulled into abortion debate
Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan found themselves dragged into a debate on Wednesday over hot-button social issues and answering for differences between their personal positions on abortion, just days before a national convention aimed at showing a unified Republican party. The discussion lingered while President Barack Obama and Romney tangled from afar over issues like education and the deficit.
The GOP ticket dealt with a renewed focus on abortion in the wake of comments about “legitimate rape” from Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, remarks that have caused an uproar and generated demands from Romney and party leaders for the congressman to quit the race.
The questions over abortion overshadowed events by Romney and Ryan in the battleground states of Iowa, North Carolina and Virginia — three states which Obama carried in 2008 — ahead of next week’s Republican convention in Tampa, Fla. Obama rallied supporters in Nevada, the state with the nation’s highest unemployment rate of 12 percent, before heading to New York for a basketball-themed fundraiser.