Ann Romney rebuts critic who says she has ‘never worked'

Ann Romney launched her new Twitter account Wednesday night by personally responding to criticism from a Democratic strategist who said the wife of the GOP front-runner had "never worked a day in her life."

Hilary Rosen, a Democratic National Committee adviser, said Ann Romney failed to understand the economic concerns facing female voters.

“His wife has actually never worked a day in her life,” Rosen said during a discussion on CNN's "AC360" Wednesday night.

“She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school and how do we — why we worry about their future.”

Later that evening, Ann Romney responded to the charge with the first post from her Twitter account.

I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work.

— Ann Romney (@AnnDRomney) April 12, 2012

On the campaign trail, former Gov. Romney has often said his wife provides him with perspective on the issues affecting female voters.

Romney's tweet was followed by tweets from top Obama campaign officials criticizing Rosen's comments.

Top Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod also took to Twitter to blast the comments as "inappropriate and offensive."

Also disappointed in Hilary Rosen's comments about Ann Romney. They were inappropriate and offensive.

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) April 12, 2012

Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, called on Rosen to apologize.

I could not disagree with Hilary Rosen any more strongly. Her comments were wrong and family should be off limits. She should apologize.

— Jim Messina (@Messina2012) April 12, 2012

Rosen later responded on Twitter, attempting to clarify her remarks as an attack on Mitt Romney and not Ann Romney's role as a stay-at-home mom.

When I said @AC360 Ann Romney never worked I meant she never had to care for her kids AND earn a paycheck like MOST American women! #Truth

— Hilary Rosen (@hilaryr) April 12, 2012

Mitt Romney is running for President, not Ann. He hired only 10%women at Bain; now makes up false concern for women's economic struggle.

— Hilary Rosen (@hilaryr) April 12, 2012

The controversy over Rosen's comments comes after the Romney campaign, which faces a gender gap in polls, fumbled an effort to court female voters on Wednesday.

During a conference call with reporters organized to attack President Obama on his Buffett Rule proposal and policies affecting women, a Romney policy adviser was unable to say if the former Massachusetts governor supported the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, legislation signed by Obama that expands workers' ability to bring lawsuits over payment discrimination claims.

The Romney campaign, which later clarified that the GOP candidate "supports pay equity for women," was caught off guard by the issue at a time when it is ramping up efforts to hit the administration’s economic policies toward women.

This story was updated at 8:45 a.m.

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