Hilary Rosen, who has worked for a number of high-profile Democrats, criticised Romney for using his wife, a stay-at-home mother of five sons, as a surrogate to connect with female voters.
Mitt Romney's wife Ann was hurled to the centre of the presidential election on Wednesday, when she was criticised by a Democrat strategist for having "never worked a day in her life".
Hilary Rosen, who has worked for a number of high-profile Democrats, criticised Romney for using his wife, a stay-at-home mother of five sons, as a surrogate to connect with female voters.
"You have Mitt Romney running around the country saying, 'Well, my wife tells me what women really care about is economic issues'," she said on CNN. "Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life."
Romney's popularity as a mother and a cancer survivor far outstrips her husband's and within minutes Republicans took to Twitter to hit back at Rosen, criticising her for marginalising women who decided not to go to work.
The row prompted Mrs Romney to join the social networking site, where her first tweet read simply: "I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work."
While on the campaign trail, Romney often says that her husband would return from work and tell her "your job is more important than mine".
Anxious that Barack Obama's 19-point polling advantage with women could be jeopardised, two of the president's top campaign aides both called on Rosen to apologise.
David Axelrod, a senior adviser, said the comments were "inappropriate and offensive", while Mr Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina said criticism of Romney's family "should be off limits".
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