Mitt Romney picked up a highly prized endorsement Wednesday from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush after a convincing victory the night before in the Illinois primary but then saw a top adviser's televised comment provide new ammunition to his trailing rivals in the Republican presidential race. Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney's senior campaign adviser, was asked in a CNN interview Wednesday morning whether the former Massachusetts governor had been forced to adopt conservative positions in the rugged race that could hurt his standing with moderates in November's general election. "I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes," Fehrnstrom responded. "It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again."
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Mitt Romney responds to Etch A Sketch comment by affirming his conservatism
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Rivals jump on Romney aide's remark that his campaign can reset like an Etch A Sketch
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Jeb Bush endorses Romney and calls for Republican unity
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The Louisiana primary Saturday is the next contest in the Republican presidential race
@placeholder later said he was referring to the campaign as a whole, and Romney spoke to reporters after an afternoon event to try to exercise some damage control.