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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/25/us-usa-campaign-romney-tour-idUSBRE86O1HM20120725?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FPoliticsNews+%28Reuters+Politics+News%29

"Anglo-Saxon" quote overshadows start of Romney tour

By Steve Holland

LONDON | Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:45pm EDT

(Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney began a foreign tour on Wednesday on the back foot, with his campaign forced to dismiss a report that an adviser accused President Barack Obama of not understanding the shared "Anglo-Saxon heritage" of Britain and the United States.

As Romney arrived in London for a three-day stay, The Daily Telegraph quoted an unnamed Romney campaign adviser as lauding the special relationship between the two countries.

"We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special," the Telegraph quoted the adviser as saying, "The White House didn't fully appreciate the shared history we have."

The Daily Telegraph said the adviser's remarks "may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity."

Romney is in London to attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games on Friday, the first leg of a week-long trip that will take him to Israel and Poland as he seeks to burnish his foreign policy credentials and present himself as a viable alternative to the Democratic incumbent.

A Romney spokesperson denied that the Anglo-Saxon comment represented his campaign's thinking.

"It's not true. If anyone said that, they weren't reflecting the views of Governor Romney or anyone inside the campaign," said Romney campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg.

The Obama re-election campaign, which is trying to portray Romney as a foreign policy novice, leaped on the remark by issuing a statement from Vice President Joe Biden, who accused Romney of "playing politics with international diplomacy."

"The comments reported this morning are a disturbing start to a trip designed to demonstrate Governor Romney's readiness to represent the United States on the world's stage. Not surprisingly, this is just another feeble attempt by the Romney campaign to score political points at the expense of this critical partnership. This assertion is beneath a presidential campaign," Biden said.

The former Massachusetts governor is to meet British Prime Minister David Cameron, Labour Party leader Ed Milliband and other British officials as well as former Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday.

While he is not expected to issue any policy pronouncements, all of the meetings will have carefully orchestrated photo opportunities with the aim of showing American voters images of Romney on the world stage.

Romney largely stayed out of sight after his arrival in London but taped an interview with NBC News from the Tower of London. An aide tweeted a picture of him in a vehicle that passed by the House of Parliament.

Obama is trying to head off a strong challenge from Romney in a campaign largely centered on the weak U.S. economy. Romney is taking some risk by spending a week abroad in the heat of a close campaign since any comment he makes could be seen as criticizing the president, which most U.S. politicians are loathe to do once they leave American shores.

To get around that problem, Romney set the stage for his trip with a scathing speech on American soil on Tuesday, accusing the president of mishandling foreign policy hot spots from the Middle East to China and neglecting U.S. allies.

Romney's visit to London is aimed at recalling the role he played in salvaging the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, a key portion of his resume as a businessman who can fix problems.

That part of his biography has come under fire from the Obama campaign, which insists that at that time he was still nominally in control of Bain Capital, a private equity firm that had shipped some U.S. jobs overseas.

(Editing by Alistair Bell and Vicki Allen)


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