Sketches

Even Joe Biden couldn't resist using the "Etch A Sketch" gaffe to needle GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, as he made a broader attack against the candidate and his party for their support for a dramatic overhaul of Medicare. In the second in a series of campaign speeches by the vice president meant to outline the Obama camp's general election message, Biden said there was "no daylight" between Romney and congressional leaders like Rep. Paul D. Ryan on the issue of entitlements, saying both were determined to "dismantle" Medicare and Social Security.

Rick Santorum's latest attempt to use a Mitt Romney aide's "Etch-A-Sketch" remark against the Republican front-runner instead gave his rival a chance to fire back on Thursday, after Santorum seemed to say he'd rather see President Obama reelected than send Romney to the White House. Speaking at an event in Texas, Santorum again made the case that Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom's comments Wednesday on CNN about a "reset" of the campaign if Romney clinched the nomination showed the former Massachusetts governor's efforts to appeal to conservatives were insincere.

Mitt Romney had hoped to avoid dealing with the Etch-A-Sketch question at his only public event Wednesday afternoon, a town hall meeting in Maryland. But, about half an hour after Romney pointedly told a reporter along the ropeline that he would not be taking questions, reporters were summoned for a quick Q&A. There was only one "Q," and the candidate knew what it would be. PHOTOS: Romney's Etch-A-Sketch issue "First, I just want to tell you, what a great night last night," Romney said after reappearing in a then largely empty American Legion Hall.

It was Newt Gingrich's turn Thursday to mock Mitt Romney, brandishing a pink Etch-A-Sketch with “No Romney” printed on the back at a glorified photo op at Big Al's Seafood Restaurant in Houma, La. The toy, handed to him by conservative activist Jeff Giles (who is actually a Santorum supporter), has become the topic of various barbs against Romney after Romney campaign manager Eric Fehrnstrom told CNN, “Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes.

The Romney campaign may be learning that sometimes the best weapon against an unshakably bad story like "Etch-A-Sketch"-gate is to laugh it off. First, a refresher. Eric Fehrnstrom, one of Mitt Romney's top aides, torpedoed what should have been a gangbusters news cycle for the campaign with this answer to a question about how damaging the primary has been to Romney's chances in November. "I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch-A-Sketch.

Mitt Romney probably never wants to see another Etch A Sketch, but investors don't feel that way: The toy that caused a campaign faux pas Wednesday led the stock of its owner, Ohio Art Co., to more than double. Granted, that's with thin trading volume on the over-the-counter market. The 141% jump pushed the value up $5.65 to close at $9.65 a share. What's bad news for Eric Fehrnstrom -- the Romney senior aide who, on Wednesday, likened his boss' policy strategy to the Etch A Sketch's ever-changing chameleon ways, and on CNN no less -- is great news for Ohio Art.  The 52-year-old plastic tablet, on which users draw images using knobs and then erase the sketches with a shake, probably hasn't had this much excitement in a while.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is probably not thrilled with his campaign's latest gaffe. His top political advisor compared Romney's strategy to an Etch-A-Sketch -- a description immediately seized upon by opponents who have spent the election season portraying the candidate as a flip-flopper who will erase and redraw his position to meet the latest political poll. “You are not looking at someone who is the Etch-a-Sketch candidate,” rival candidate Rick Santorum told an audience in Mandeville, La., on Tuesday, shaking one of the toys to help drive home his point.

Mitt Romney's big win in the Illinois primary didn't end the fight for the Republican presidential nomination. But it may all but guarantee that after repeated slips and stumbles, including a fresh one hours after his victory, the former Massachusetts governor will lead the GOP into the fall contest against President Obama. Rick Santorum, Romney's chief antagonist, is not going away any time soon. He is almost certain to notch a few more victories, perhaps as early as Saturday in Louisiana, the kind of heavily rural, religious and deeply conservative state that has repeatedly backed the former Pennsylvania senator.

Rick Santorum went shopping between his first stop on Wednesday at an oil services firm in Harvey, La., across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, and his second, speaking to tea party activists in this Republican stronghold on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. He stopped at a Toys R Us and bought four Etch-A-Sketches. Santorum, handed a political gift by one of Mitt Romney's campaign advisors, made the most of it campaigning in Louisiana, where he is hoping a big win on Saturday will fire up his insurgent candidacy after he finished far behind the GOP front-runner in Illinois on Tuesday.