CAMPAIGN 2012

Romney Pokes Obama Over Losing Votes to West Virginia Felon

The GOP hopeful tells a Denver radio station the results show a rift among Democrats.

Updated: May 29, 2013 | 9:47 p.m.
May 9, 2012 | 11:10 a.m.

It was embarrassing enough for President Obama to lose four in 10 votes to a convicted felon in the West Virginia Democratic primary. Now his opponent is pouring salt on the wound.

Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney laughed on Wednesday about the surprising results in West Virginia, where 41 percent of the Democratic presidential vote was won by Keith Judd, currently serving time at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas for making threats against the University of New Mexico.

Romney brought up the results during an interview on  Denver radio station KOA when he was asked whether the long, divisive primary battle reflected a "rift" within the GOP. He replied that more than 90 percent of Republicans say in polls that they'll support him, so if there's a "rift" in either party, it's between the president and his fellow Democrats.

"I saw in West Virginia, for instance, an inmate got almost 40 percent of the vote against President Obama for the convention. So I think they’ve got more problems on that side of the aisle then we do on ours,” Romney said, chuckling.

Obama has long had problems in West Virginia, which he lost to Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 primaries and to Republican John McCain in the general election.

Romney, who made his remarks before an event in Fort Lupton, has had his own troubles in Colorado. He was back in the state for the first time since suffering a stinging rebuke from GOP caucus-goers back in February, when they gave former rival Rick Santorum’s campaign a victory and a new lease on life.

As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough already for President Obama to lose part of the vote in the West Virginia Democratic primary to a convicted felon, his opponent is making sure to pour salt on the wound.

Presumptive GO

As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough already for President Obama to lose part of the vote in the West Virginia Democratic primary to a convicted felon, his opponent is making sure to pour salt on the wound.

Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney laughed about the surprising results coming out of West Virginia, in which Keith Judd, currently serving time at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas for making threats against the University of New Mexico, won 41 percent of the vote.

“If there’s a rift in the party, in think it’s his,” Romney said in an interview with a Denver radio station before an event in Fort Lupton. “So I think they’ve got more problems on that side of the aisle then we do on ours.”

It’s the former Massachusetts governor’s first return to the state after suffering a stinging rebuke from Colorado caucus-goers back in February, when they gave Rick Santorum’s campaign new life.

P nominee Mitt Romney laughed about the surprising results coming out of West Virginia, in which Keith Judd, currently serving time at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas for making threats against the University of New Mexico, won 41 percent of the vote.

“If there’s a rift in the party, in think it’s his,” Romney said in an interview with a Denver radio station before an event in Fort Lupton. “So I think they’ve got more problems on that side of the aisle then we do on ours.”

It’s the former Massachusetts governor’s first return to the state after suffering a stinging rebuke from Colorado caucus-goers back in February, when they gave Rick Santorum’s campaign new life.

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