An aide to Mitt Romney has been forced to step down from the presidential campaign after he was outed as gay and forced to confirm he was in a relationship with a Mexican immigrant.
Mr Babeu resigned from his post as Mr Romney's Arizona state campaign co-chair after pictures were published over the weekend. Photo: AP
9:30AM GMT 20 Feb 2012
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Conservative Arizona sheriff Paul Babeu, who made American headlines by
jumping on the anti-illegal immigration bandwagon, was accused of
threatening to deport the man, identified only as Jose, if he revealed their
relationship.
Jose sent a Phoenix magazine pictures of himself and Mr Babeu embracing, an
image of the smiling sheriff in his underwear, and another image that
appeared to be of a shirtless Mr Babeu that was posted on a gay dating
website,
Mr Babeu did not deny the authenticity of the photos. He did deny the
allegations he threatened to deport Jose, saying they were an attempt to
hurt his political career. Jose's legal status is unclear.
Mr Babeu resigned from his post as Mr Romney's Arizona state campaign co-chair
after the pictures were published over the weekend.
The sheriff had campaigned with Mr Romney, the Republican candidate often
accused of being too moderate by the deeply traditional, right-wing
conservative party base.
"Sheriff Babeu has stepped down from his volunteer position with the
campaign so he can focus on the allegations against him. We support his
decision," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement.
Pundits are predicting that Mr Babeu's political career as a rising Republican star in a conservative district with a large evangelical Christian and Mormon population is over, though he vowed to continue to run for office.
Despite being by far the best-funded and best-organised candidate who has the backing of the Republican establishment, Mr Romney has failed to energise the party's conservative grass roots and his super-rich CEO personna has failed to resonate with middle America.
The former front-runner's presidential bid is now under threat from Rick Santorum, the Christian conservative who has ignited the party's roots - though not its leadership - with his meteoric rise, fuelled in part by his stance as a strong opponent of gay marriage.
