Ann Romney accuses Obama of showing 'poor sportsmanship'

Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, equated President Obama's campaign to a petulant child during an interview Tuesday after being asked about charges from the president's campaign that her husband had "lied" during last week's debate.

“I mean, lied about what? This is something he’s been saying all along. This is what he believes.  This is his policy, these are his statements," Ann Romney said in an interview set to air Wednesday on Fox News. "I mean, lie — it’s sort of like someone that’s, you know, in the sandbox that like lost the game and they’re just going to kick sand in someone’s face and say, ‘you liar.’ I mean, it’s like they lost, and so now they just are going to say, OK, the game, we didn’t like the game. So to me, it’s poor sportsmanship.”

In an interview Sunday with CBS News, Obama adviser David Axelrod said Romney's debate positions were "uprooted" from what he had said on the campaign trail.

"I think [the president] was a little taken aback at the brazenness with which Gov. Romney walked away from so many of the positions on which he's run, walked away from his record,” Axelrod said.

Ann Romney said she "knew right away" that her husband was winning the first presidential debate.

"I knew after the first question," she said. "I turned to my son after 50 minutes, and I gave him a nudge, and I said it’s 100 to zero right now. "

She added that she hoped his performance would attract the support of more female voters, a crucial demographic headed into Election Day and one that the president has thus far dominated.

"I had been waiting for a very, very long time for people to see my husband how I see him. And I think that people got a chance to do that at the debate," Ann Romney said.

She also said her husband would respond "with clarity and firmness" if pressed in the second debate about his secretly recorded "47 percent" comment, which resurfaced Tuesday in an attack ad from the Obama campaign.

Ann Romney also said she didn't have advice for Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) ahead of his debate Thursday against Vice President Biden, but that she and her husband had "all the confidence in Paul."

"I’m excited again for the American people to see him," she said. "They don’t know him. He is such a great guy. He’s so genuine, he’s so earnest, he’s so well-spoken, he’s so intelligent. He knows his facts. I mean, it’s going to be great for people to really get a chance to get to know him better.”

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