McDonnell dismisses ‘birther’ talk, says Romney agrees Obama ‘born in America’

A high-level surrogate for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign said this year’s White House race will be about issues, not where President Obama was born.

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) said both he and Romney agree that Obama was born in America.

“I would say both Mitt Romney and I agree. The president was born in America,” McDonnell said. “It’s not where he was born. It’s his policies that are the issue in this race.”

Business tycoon Donald Trump, a Romney supporter, has stated his doubts that the president was born in the United States. This past weekend, the Obama campaign sought to tie Romney to Trump's controversial comments on the president's citizenship, calling on him to publicly disavow those claims.

Romney, however, has sought to keep attention on the economy, saying that should not be accountable for the positions of his surrogates.

"I don’t agree with all the people who support me, and my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in," Romney said to CNN last week.

McDonnell on Sunday noted the high unemployment rate, now at 8.2 percent, will be of concern to voters.  

On Friday, a weak May jobs report said only 69,000 jobs had ben created, raising fears within the Obama campaign that the economic news would boost Romney's candidacy.

When asked if the Romney campaign has asked him for documents in the vice presidential candidate search, McDonnell said they have asked him for his schedule.

“They have asked for my schedule to see where I can help them next, and it’s going to be in Virginia,” McDonnell said. “I’m going to help him win Virginia.”

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