Washington ( CNN ) -- Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney threw his campaign another curve ball when he revived the sensitive `` birther '' issue while campaigning in his native Michigan on Friday . Speaking before a friendly crowd in the Detroit suburb of Commerce , Romney noted that he and his wife , Ann , were born at nearby hospitals . `` No one 's ever asked to see my birth certificate . They know that this is the place that we were born and raised . '' he said . The crowd roared at the quip , which was seemingly directed at President Barack Obama , who has faced questions for years from some conservative Republican quarters about his birthplace . Only U.S.-born citizens can be president and Obama released his full birth certificate last year from Hawaii to quiet critics . Romney has said he believes Obama was born in the United States and that the issue was put to rest last year . Although the zinger once again cast Republican candidate away from their key message : that Obama has mismanaged the economy and Romney is the better of the two to get things back on track . Political analysts agree that Romney does much better when he sticks to economic issues and his experience in business , two themes Republicans will stress at next week 's nominating convention in Tampa . But this week , Romney and Republicans nationally have been consumed by a political firestorm caused by Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin 's explosive comments on rape and pregnancy . Romney spent a good amount of time since they were aired on Sunday in a St. Louis television interview denouncing Akin 's remarks and fielding questions about abortion . And now , his campaign is responding to 'birther ' questions . A Romney aide that he was only pointing out that Michigan is the state where he was `` born and raised . '' Michael Tanner , a senior fellow at the Cato Institute , author of Leviathan on the Right : How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution , believed it was just Romney being awkward in trying to make a point about his roots . Some found them puzzling . `` I 'm somewhat surprised that he would make that joke because he 's done a good job confirming that President Obama was the legitimate president of the United States , '' said Andra Gillespie an associate professor of political science at Emory University and author of `` The New Black Politician . '' Romney has had a hard time appealing to the right wing of the Republican base , and the comment could , to some , have been a way getting a bump in support -- including financial support -- heading into the convention , said Mark Anthony Neal , an African-American studies professor at Duke University and the author of several books , including `` New Black Man : Rethinking Black Masculinity . '' `` The best way to do that is to play to the crassest elements of the base , '' Neal said . Others felt the comments subtly signaled race . `` The 'birther ' issues is only an issue that involves the country 's first black president , '' said Fredrick C. Harris , a political science professor and director of Columbia University 's Center on African-American Politics and Society . `` And so it raises questions still about the legitimacy about this administration . '' And for others , it is a problem of message control when the campaign faces periods of stress . On his overseas trip last month , Romney offended Britons when he questioned the city 's readiness to host the Olympics and Palestinians when he credited Israeli culture for its economic success . `` It does speak to a lack of discipline overall , '' Tanner said of Romney 's birth certificate comment . `` Look , candidates are going to say dumb things , the president said there were 57 states in the country . God knows what Joe Biden will say on any given day . If you give 100 speeches , you 're going to mess something up . But the Romney campaign does n't seem to respond well to this . ''
' No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate , ' Romney said in his native Michigan . Quip another distraction for Romney in preparing for RNC convention . Was Romney trying to appeal to conservative voters or was it just an awkward question ? Romney also said that candidate believes Obama was born in the United States .