The man who would be US President, Republican nominee Mitt Romney, has rather awkwardly defended himself over disparaging comments he made about voters. He was secretly recorded at a private fundraising event, saying he's not interested in the 47% of people who don't pay income tax, and who support Barack Obama over him. He went on to say those people believe they are 'victims' and they think 'the government has a responsibility to care for them'.

At a press conference in California a reporter asked him if he was worried he'd offended the voters he mentioned. Romney said his comments about almost half of the American population were 'off the cuff', 'not elegantly stated' but has been revealed out of context...

Romney says: 'We don't even have the question given the snippet there nor the full response and I hope the person who has the video would put out the full material. But it's a message which I'm going to carry and continue to carry which is look the president's approach is attractive to people who aren't not paying taxes because frankly my discussion about lowering taxes isn't as attractive to them and therefore I'm not likely to draw them in to my campaign as effectively as those who are in the middle. This is really a discussion about the political process of winning the election and of course I want to help all Americans, all Americans, have a b.