Obama targets Romney-Trump connection in ad

Combined wire services

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's re-election campaign has released a television advertisement accusing Mitt Romney of failing to stand up to "the voices of extremism" in his party.

The ad was issued yesterday as Romney was poised to clinch the Republican presidential nomination in the Texas primary. It takes the former Massachusetts governor to task for failing to speak out against real estate mogul Donald Trump, a supporter who has consistently charged Obama is not a U.S. citizen.

The commercial opens by showing 2008 nominee John McCain brushing aside a woman who raised the citizenship issue at a town hall-style meeting, and asks, "Why won't Mitt Romney do the same?" A Romney aide is shown telling a TV interviewer that "a candidate can't be responsible for everything a supporter has said."

Romney was to join Trump last night in A Las Vegas fundraiser. The appearance with Trump brings with it some political risk for the presumptive Republican nominee.

Aside from the funds raised for his campaign, "there's no real advantage for Romney to appear with Trump," said Tobe Berkovitz, a communications professor and longtime Romney watcher at Boston University. "Anything Trump does is to benefit Trump. At this point, it's not like Romney needs publicity."

A week ago, Trump repeated his longstanding questions about whether Obama was born in the United States.

"He didn't know he was running for president, so he told the truth," Trump said in an interview with the Daily Beast website, referring to a literary agency that once worked with Obama and included false information in a biography that he was born in Kenya. A former employee has said she made the error.

"Donald Trump has become the birther-in-chief," Obama re-election spokesman Ben LaBolt said. "This once again raises questions about whether Mitt Romney will stand up to the extreme elements of his party or embrace them."

Romney's campaign has played down Trump's remarks, while trying not to anger someone who can be helpful with fundraising.