President Barack Obama's presidential campaign released a statement noting that Bill Clinton's praise for Romney's "sterling business record" did not constitute an endorsement of the Republican nominee.
The campaign distributed these remarks from Bill Clinton in Wisconsin, as reported by CBS News:
“’I said, you know, Governor Romney had a good career in business and he was a governor, so he crosses the qualification threshold for him being president,’ Clinton said. ‘But he shouldn't be elected, because he is wrong on the economy and all these other issues. So today, because I didn't attack him personally and bash him, I wake up to read all these stories taking it out of context as if I had virtually endorsed him, which means the tea party has already won their first great victory: 'We are supposed to hate each to disagree.' That is wrong.’”
Romney deputy press secretary Ryan Williams called the release "absurd:"
"If the Obama campaign thinks that it's important to issue a press release explaining Bill Clinton's praise of Governor Romney's 'sterling' business record, they are losing," he said. "Losing miserably."
Update: An Obama campaign official notes that they didn't send out a press release — they just forwarded the CBS News article.
Update 2: Williams responds: "If the Obama campaign needs to distance themselves from their own press release explaining Bill Clinton's praise of Governor Romney's 'sterling' business record, they're really losing. At this point it's just sad."