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Romney seeks Washington Post retraction on 'outsourcing' story

Chief aides to Mitt Romney will sit down with The Washington Post Wednesday to seek a retraction of a story published last week saying Bain Capital invested heavily in firms that sent American jobs overseas.

Since the article's publication June 21, President Barack Obama has used the story frequently in stump speeches to hammer Romney's tenure at the helm of the private equity firm in the 1990s.

Romney aides will meet with Washington Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli and other senior staffers at 2pm ET, according to Politico.

"The Post's editors take all complaints seriously and are always willing to listen to concerns and look into them," Washington Post spokesperson Kris Coratti told Politico.

The article in question said Bain Capital invested heavily in firms which promoted the corporate strategy of shipping US jobs to overseas call centers, a claim vigorously disputed by the Romney campaign.

Romney's advisers have defended Bain's practices, saying the paper had confused outsourcing with offshoring.

On CBS's "Face The Nation" Sunday, top Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom argued that Bain had helped companies that wished to expand overseas and that the Post article was an example of a "shoddy piece of journalism."

"There's a very simple difference between outsourcing and offshoring," Fehrnstrom said. "[Outsourcing] is done by companies every day. They take functions and they allow vendors to do it rather than handling it in-house. Offshoring is the shipment of American jobs overseas."

"No American jobs were shipped overseas in any of the Washington Post examples that were cited by the Obama campaign," he continued. "I hope that the Post will correct the record. If they're interested in protecting their reputation, then they will do so."

The president has made the Post story a key part of his stump speech on the trail, while his campaign and Obama's super PAC have doubled down on their strategy of attacking Romney's Bain ties in recent TV commercials.

At a campaign stop in New Hampshire Monday, the president accused Romney and Bain of "pioneering outsourcing" in China and India.

"Governor Romney's commitment to outsourcing is not just part of his record, it's part of an overwhelming economic vision," he said.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/06/romney-to-seek-retraction-from-washpost-127441.html