Following a devastating Politico article painting the Mitt Romney's campaign in disarray, the GOP nominee has a message for critics: Relax, everything is hunky-dory.
In an interview with Telemundo on Monday, the White House hopeful downplayed the report. "I've got a terrific campaign," Romney said. "My senior campaign people work extraordinarily well together. I work well with them. Our campaign is doing well."
When asked if there would be changes in his campaign, he insisted, "No. I've got a good team."
In the Politico expose on the inner workings of the campaign, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei spoke with mostly unidentified "Romney aides, advisers, and friends." The piece documents infighting and confusion within in the campaign that resulted in a mixed message and self-inflicted errors like failing to mention the war in Afghanistan during his RNC speech. It also describes how Romney's original RNC speech was scrapped, setting off a chaotic, eight-day scramble after, as well as how stunned aides watched Clint Eastwood's rambling comedy routine in "fury."
“Romney associates are baffled that such a successful corporate leader has created a team with so few lines of authority or accountability,” the report said.
Nia-Malika Henderson, a political reporter with the Washington Post, told msnbc host Al Sharpton on Politics Nation that the report poses a big problem for Romney.
"He is running as a CEO, he's running on his management skills....There are lots of management problems and that is going to end up being an issue for him because it really undermines a core message of his campaign," she said.
Ed Gillespie, a top Romney advisor, admitted to reporters Monday the campaign had not given enough specifics and promised to add detail to the GOP'er's plan in the 50 days before Election Day. He insisted it wasn't in reaction to the Politico piece.
But Democratic strategist Bob Shrum told Sharpton that Gillespie leading the call and announcing the new plan means "there's probably some power shifting in that campaign."