In which Jim Heath guarantees he will never get an interview with President Romney

I'm not counting my chickens, mind you. I'm talking about a hypothetical President Romney, of course.

Boy, Ohio has become a dangerous place for Mitt Romney to visit, hasn't it? First, back in the fall, there was the whole kerfuffle over whether or not he supported Issue 2 or not. And we told you just yesterday about how incompetently Kevin DeWine and Brett Buerck continue to handle his Ohio campaign.

Today, Romney appeared to have another flip-flop moment. But it was really a case of a mismanaged question from ONN's Jim Heath, who had been promoting the airing of his interview with Romney all day. (For the 95% of Ohioans who don't know, ONN is Ohio News Network, a network carried only by a few cable companies that nobody watches.) Watch.




First, there is no "Blunt-Rubio" amendment. There is a Blunt amendment, and a Rubio amendment. Second, Heath clumsily described the bill as "employers banning providing contraception". Romney probably should have asked him for clarification, but in any event, was confused with Heath's question and didn't realize that the actual subject of the question was supposed to be about Roy Blunt's amendment in the Senate to counter the Obama administration's mandate that employers must provide free contraception services.

No matter whether you are pro- or anti-Romney, Heath screwed him here. Mitt got a bad rap all day for supposedly opposing the amendment, when it was really a case of a reporter who did a lousy job.

Then, perhaps to cover his own behind, Heath tries to turn it into a big scoop and tweets to the world, "ALERT: Mitt Romney tells ONN he would not vote for senate bill which would allow employers to deny coverage for birth control." Unbelievable.

Life News, quite a conservative source, even comes out and clarifies that they believe that Romney supports the amendment, and scolds Jim Heath for trying to trip him up.

A reporter tried to trip up Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney today with a question that falsely described the Blunt Amendment that pro-life groups are pushing for in the Senate tomorrow to stop Obama’s HHS mandate.

Jim Heath, a reporter for ONN-TV in Ohio, sent a message on Twitter causing a ruckus claiming Romney did not support the mandate, saying, “ALERT: Mitt Romney tells ONN he would not vote for senate bill which would allow employers to deny coverage for birth control.”

I don't know if Heath was trying to trip up Romney and make a name for himself, or he just fumbled the interview. Maybe he should start looking for a job at the other ONN.

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