Romney in Jacksonville (Mary Altaffer/AP)Mitt Romney continued to distance his campaign from a conservative super PAC's proposal to run ads linking President Barack Obama to his controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Speaking to reporters in Jacksonville, Fla., where he campaigned on Thursday, Romney said he rejects any efforts to link Obama with Wright.
"I want to make it very clear, I repudiate that effort. I think it's the wrong course for a PAC or a campaign," Romney said. "I hope that our campaigns can respectively be about the futures and about issues and about a vision for America."
But asked about comments he made during a February radio interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity in which he invoked Obama's connection to Wright, Romney said he was unfamiliar with his comments but nonetheless stood by what he said.
As Politico was first to report, Romney brought up Wright after Hannity played a clip of Obama citing the diversity of the United States and declaring, "We are no longer a Christian nation."
Romney took issue with the quote, telling Hannity at the time, "I'm not sure which is worse: him listening to Reverend Wright or him saying that we must be a less Christian nation."
Asked about his comments to Hannity during his press conference in Jacksonville, Romney said he couldn't recall what he said during the interview.
"I'm not familiar precisely with what I said, but I'll stand by what I said, whatever it was," Romney said.
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