Gov. Tom Corbett is sticking to his support of requiring women to have ultrasounds before having an abortion, as long as "you can't make them watch it." In a new interview the recent grandfather also explains his position a bit more.

The Obama campaign -- which signaled a month ago that it would use ultrasound remarks from the governor, a Mitt Romney supporter, as a wedge issue with women voters -- highlighted fresh remarks on the subject from Corbett and released a statement from the Obama camp's Pennsylvania spokeswoman Jen Austin. "Mitt Romney and his allies like Governor Tom Corbett just don't get it. It is extreme policies like Governor Corbett's that have left Romney and Republicans underwater with women," she said in part.

The remarks came in an interview posted by the Seattle Times Monday. In Washington state, a Republican attorney general candidate is leading the polls to become the state's new governor this year, so with the obvious parallels with Pennsylvania, the Seattle Times' Election Eye blog sent former KDKA broadcaster Thor Tolo to interview Corbett at the governor's mansion. From Tolo:

Corbett was, and Washington gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna is, a Republican Attorney General running opposed to same-sex marriage and facing legislative mandates to balance their states' respective budgets. Cutting thousands of state government jobs is a much easier chore since his party controls both state legislative chambers, but all of this budget slashing has come with a mighty high price tag.

Tolo asked Corbett a few questions about social issues, including his ultrasound comments from March before proposed legislation stalled in Harrisburg. "You can't make somebody watch it. You can put the monitor in front of them but you can't make them watch it," he told Tolo, in a 22-second excerpt posted by the Obama camp.

In the full interview Corbett -- whose daughter recently adopted a baby boy -- explains himself a bit further, starting at the 8:15 mark below. Tolo is about to go to another question when Corbett stops him:

"Let me talk about it: I think it's important to note I think we have over 30,000 abortions per year in Pennsylvania. I am the now grandfather of an adopted son. I think adoption is a much preferable way to go. And when you see that kind of number, if an ultrasound, which is not invasive at all, we convice somebody maybe to carry that baby to term and give it up for adoption and save that life, I think that's the way to go."

The full statement from the Obama camp is after the jump:

A pdf of the ACLU's lawsuit seeking to overturn Pennsylvania's voter ID law is available here.

Karen Langley's setup story from today is here.

The suit contains stories from petitioners who cannot obtain IDs, often due to lost birth certificates and bureaucratic hassles. Here's one from Pittsburgh:

25. Petitioner Nadine Marsh, a registered voter in Pennsylvania, is an 84-year-old Caucasian woman who was born in suburban Pittsburgh in 1928. She was the second oldest of ten children and her father worked for Bethlehem Steel. She graduated from Moon High School in 1946. The following year she married her high school sweetheart and then devoted herself to raising three children.

26. Ms. Marsh never drove a car and thus has never had a driver's license. She and other family members have over the years tried to get her birth certificate that she will need to get a Photo ID, from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. They have gone in person to the Pittsburgh office of the Division of Vital Records, where they have obtained other family members' birth certificates, but have been told that a birth certificate does not exist for Ms. Marsh.

27. Ms. Marsh is a registered voter who wants to vote in the November 2012 election. Unfortunately, without an identification considered acceptable under Pennsylvania's Photo ID Law, or the ability to obtain one, Ms. Marsh will be prevented from voting in November.

It's going to be a long, tough slog between PA12 Democratic incumbent Mark Critz and GOP challenger Keith Rothfus.

Earlier today we noted how the conservative Club For Growth is going to bat for Rothfus, and now Dan Hirshhorn at The Daily reports Republicans will start hitting Critz tomorrow with an attack ad on Obama's health care reform bill. It's thought that the attack will ward off Critz's continued use of Medicare/Social Security as a campaign issue.

The NRCC says the ads will run for at least two weeks in the Pittsburgh market on Fox News.

From Dan:

Two years ago, House Republicans hit the airwaves tying Pennsylvania Democrat Mark Critz to a "bad health care bill" that "liberals rammed through" Congress. Tomorrow, their campaign committee will take flight with a new TV ad, obtained early by The Daily, that similarly hits the first-term congressman for opposing "efforts to repeal or defund Obamacare 20 times."

If it seems familiar — ominous imagery equating Democrats with Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, knocks on the party's stimulus package and health care law — welcome to the House GOP's 2012 campaign, a syndicated repeat of the 2010 campaign.

In battleground districts across the country, the National Republican Congressional Committee and other GOP groups have aired or are planning to run TV spots that come straight from the same playbook that won them control of the House two years ago.

Critz of course is not a health care reform supporter, though Republicans will note he voted against a GOP effort to repeal the bill. The charge (made often in 2010) that Democrats would cut $500 million from Medicare has been questioned by fact-checkers who say the cuts would be in future growth of the entitlement, not current spending.

No surprise here, but the Club For Growth today announced its endorsement of Republican Keith Rothfus in the PA12 congressional race against incumbent Mark Critz. The free enterprise/anti-tax group supported Rothfus in 2010 and was formerly headed by Pat Toomey, another Rothfus supporter.

We'll be watching whether the club advertises in the race, as it did for a while against US Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair.

Here's the club's statement:

"The Club for Growth PAC strongly supports Keith Rothfus for Congress," said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. "Keith will be an ally of Senator Pat Toomey and will fight to cut spending, limit government, and increase economic freedom. Congressman Mark Critz is nothing more than a rubber stamp for the failed Obama agenda that has cost western Pennsylvania thousands of jobs. The Club's PAC is proud to support Keith Rothfus – a pro-growth fiscal conservative who will repeal ObamaCare and fight the liberal agenda in Washington."

UPDATE: The Critz camp (echoing a certain other Democrat) says Rothfus and the Club are all about shipping jobs overseas:

Keith Rothfus was endorsed by the Club for Growth because of his support of free trade agreements that ship American jobs overseas. The Club for Growth advocates increased trade with China and opposes any attempt to end China's unfair policies that are killing American manufacturing jobs. In a petition to Congress, the Club called increased cheap imports from China "marvelous" and urged Congress to oppose any attempt to protect American jobs by leveling the playing field.

"Mark Critz opposes unfair trade agreements that ship jobs to countries like China while Keith Rothfus is on the record supporting them," Critz spokesman Mike Mikus said. "China's unfair policies like their currency manipulation are killing American jobs yet Keith Rothfus and his allies call these policies 'marvelous'. The only thing this endorsement demonstrates is that Mark Critz fights to create jobs here and that Keith Rothfus will fight to ship our jobs to China."

UPDATE: Remember how we said Democrats would "try to paint Mr. Rothfus as an extremist" through the fall? That's exactly what the (Critz supporting) AFL-CIO does in its statement on the Club nod (in full after jump):

The Club for Growth is an organization that advocates an extremist economic agenda on behalf of the Wall Street bankers that finance the group. In return for taking extreme economic positions they funnel large amounts of money in to elections for radical politicians. The Club for Growth spent $2.7 million in 2010 to elect Senator Toomey and he received a 97 (out of 100) on their score card last year.