Mitt Romney Denies Trashing Obama With Birther Joke

Mitt Romney says that he didn't mean any disrespect to President Barack Obama when he made a birth-certificate joke during a rally Friday.

While addressing supporters in his native Michigan with his wife, Ann, the presumptive GOP presidential candidate broached the controversy over Obama's place of birth, cracking, "No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know this is the place we were born and raised."

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The comment drew criticism, including from the Obama campaign, which sent out a mass email bearing the subject line, "A new low for Mitt Romney." But the former Massachusetts governor told CBS News' Scott Pelley on Friday that the remark wasn't intended as a dig at Obama, who has faced accusations that he wasn't born in America, even after producing his long-form birth certificate last year.

"I've said throughout the campaign, and before, there's no question about where he was born," Romney protested, after Pelley suggested that he had taken "a swipe" at Obama. "He was born in the U.S. This was fun about us and coming home and humor. You know, we've got to have a little humor in a campaign, as well."

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An excerpt of Romney's interview with Pelley will air on "CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley" Thursday night, with an extended portion of the interview running on Monday's edition.

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