Ft. Dodge. IA–

Governor Romney faced a barrage of questions today surrounding reports that his father, George Romney did not march with Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement. As recently as Romney’s “Faith in America” speech Romney said, “I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.” He reiterated that point last weekend on Meet the Press. Today Romney adamantly stood by the story that his father did march with the civil rights leader, but acknowledged he didn’t mean he literally saw them march, instead he meant it “figuratively:”

“If you look at the literature or the dictionary the term ‘saw’ includes being aware of in the sense I have described. It is a figure of speech and very familiar and very common and I saw my dad march with Martin Luther King. I did not see it with my own eyes, but I saw him in the sense of being aware of his participation in that great effort.”

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One of the reports says that George Romney could not have attended the march because it was on a Sunday and George Romney did not hold political events on Sunday because of the Mormon Sabbath:

“My brother also remembers my dad having spoken about the fact that he did not do political events on Sunday, but that he decided at the last minute that he was going to break that self-imposed rule and participate and I think he did so on a Sunday as I recall.”

In a particularly uncomfortable moment Romney tried to explain what “figuratively” seeing something means:

“I’m an English lit major as well. When you see the Patriots won the World Series it doesn’t necessarily mean you were there. Excuse me, the Super bowl. I saw my dad become president of American Motors. Did that mean you were there for the ceremony? No. It’s a figure of speech. I saw my father as a champion of civil rights, this is a figure of speech and it refers to that figure of speech. “

The Romney campaign sent reporters documentation that shows George Romney participating in several civil rights marches. He was a staunch civil rights supporter. They also cited a 1967 book as confirmation that the two marched together in 1963.

Eric Fehrnstrom, Press secretary for the campaign said:

“Governor Romney is very proud of his father and his father’s record of fighting for civil rights in this country. In 1963, George Romney did participate in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Freedom Marches” in Grosse Pointe. That was written about by Stephen Hess and David Broder in their 1967 book. George Romney had a long record of supporting Martin Luther King, Jr. He attended his funeral in 1968 and believed his death was a great national tragedy.”

The reports first surfaced in the Boston Phoenix yesterday and the Detroit Free Press today.