REUTERS

BURBANK (CALIFORNIA) CALIFORNIA Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney had this assignment for Rick Santorum on Tuesday to make light of his chief rival’s frequent tussles with the news media: “Press secretary.” Romney, who sometimes struggles to connect with everyday voters, appeared on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” for an interview that was at times serious and at times humourous.

He was about 30 seconds into the appearance when he found himself talking about the dull process of collecting delegates for the Republican presidential nomination, not the type of material normally covered by late-night television comics.

“Well, they allocate the delegates on a proportional basis this time, so we knew it was going to take awhile,” Romney said in the taped appearance that media were allowed to watch.

Then the strait-laced former Massachusetts governor was quickly sidetracked into commenting on Santorum’s recent vow to crack down on pornography if he were to be elected president.

“Did you ever think we’d be talking about porn, with all the other things in this election?” Leno asked.

“I didn’t know we were talking about porn,” Romney said to laughter from the audience.

Romney was revealing when asked to talk about several Republican heavyweights who might be vice presidential material should Romney go on to win the nomination to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.