Top Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod on Sunday called out Fox News host Chris Wallace after he repeated a claim made by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney that President Barack Obama was trying to block military voters in Ohio.
In a statement last week, Romney accused Obama of launching a lawsuit to strip military voters of early voting rights in Ohio -- a claim that both USA Today and the Obama campaign have said is false.
"Your campaign is suing the state of Ohio for giving members of the military extra time to vote early, to the Monday before the election while other voters are going to have only until Friday," Wallace told Axelrod on Sunday. "You don't think that members of the military who are serving this country deserve special consideration to vote?"
"I absolutely do and the way you stated it and the way, frankly, Gov. Romney has stated it is completely false and misleading," Axelrod shot back. "What that lawsuit calls for is not to deprive the military of the right to vote on the final weekend of the campaign -- of course they should have that right. What that suit is about is whether the rest of Ohio should have the same right."
"And I think it's shameful that Gov. Romney would hide behind our servicemen and women to try and win a lawsuit to try and deprive other Ohioans of their right to vote," he added.
Ohio's Republican-controlled legislature last year enacted new voting restrictions that prevented most voters from casting early ballots after the Friday before the election. Members of the military, however, had their rights preserved, giving them until Monday to vote.
