This September, as Mitt Romney was feverishly toured the key primary state of New Hampshire shaking hands with voters and wooing endorsements, he won the support of New Hampshire state representative William Tobin. But Tobin, it turns out, is a ‘birther’ — or at least sympathetic to the false idea that President Obama was not born in America and thus should not be on the New Hampshire ballot.
A few weeks ago, California lawyer and birther movement leader Orly Taitz arrived in New Hampshire and petitioned the Granite state to follow through on this, and remove Obama’s name from the state’s 2012 presidential primary ballot. When the state’s Ballot Law Commission voted unanimously to dismiss the complaint, a riot of Taitz supporters broke out.
A few days later, Taitz filed a follow-up complaint, alleging corruption on the panel and calling for a hearing to consider the immediate removed of New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner for fraud and possibly even “treason.” The complaint bears the name of several New Hampshire state representatives, including Romney endorser Tobin.
Romney, however, is not a birther, a movement considered to be on the fringe of the right. In April, Romney told Fox News, “I think the citizenship test has been passed. I believe the president was born in the United States.” Romney’s campaign did not immediately respond to questions. William Tobin could not be reached for comment.
This latest incident is indicative the awkward line that Romney’s campaign has attempted to toe between the extreme fringe of the party — largely made up of Tea Partiers — and the more mainstream Republicans. Other candidates have been more willing to reach out to the fringes of the party. Newt Gingrich has endorsed the idea that President Obama adheres to a “Kenyan, anti-colonial” worldview; Rick Perry said he wasn’t sure if Obama’s longform birth certificate was real, then switched to calling for the release of Obama’s grades — an extension of the debunked birthed movement. But Romney has always tried to be the sensible candidate. The Romney camp did not respond to queries from TPM about what they made of Tobin’s endorsement. Tobin also did not return an inquiry from TPM.
