Mitt Romney was forced on to the defensive on Thursday as a key aide appeared to compare the Republican frontrunner's political positions to a resettable Etch-A-Sketch.
Asked if the former Massachusetts governor was in danger of leaning too far to the political right, campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom likened Romney's stances to an Etch-A-Sketch, adding: "You can kind of shake it up and start all over".
The gaffe was seized upon by Romney's rivals, who have long accused Romney of flip-flopping on issues.
It also distracted from the frontrunner's overwhelming victory in Illinois and an endorsement from former Florida governor Jeb Bush.
The comments were made by Romney's communications director on CNN Wednesday morning. Responding to a question over the danger of manoeuvring too far to the right and alienating moderate voters ahead of the presidential run off, Fehrnstrom said: "Well, I think you hit the reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch-A-Sketch."
The comments bolstered views held by Romney's detractors that Romney has moved position on a number of social issues, such as abortion, gay rights and gun control.
Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum each equipped themselves with an Etch-A-Sketch to accompany them on the stump.
At a campaign rally in Louisiana, Santorum told supporters: "Imagine if Mitt Romney had been around at the time of the constitution. He's have just shaken it up after it was approved and rewritten it.
"We are talking about big things here, folks; it is not a joke of a game. We are talking about important things in our society."
Gingrich said the gaffe "triggered everything people are worried about" in Romney. "Having an Etch-A-Sketch as a campaign model raises every doubt about where we are going," he added.
Gingrich's mockery went as far as handing an Etch-A-Sketch to a young girl in the front row of a campaign event. "She can now be a presidential candidate," he told supporters at a town hall meeting.
The gaffe is by no means the first verbal slip to have thrown Romney's campaign momentarily askew.
While campaigning in Michigan earlier in the primary season, Romey made a clumsy attempt to come across as a man of the people by telling voters his wife drives "a couple of Cadillacs".
And in a radio interview coinciding with a visit to the site of the Daytona 500 in Florida, he told racegoers: "I have some friends who are Nascar team owners." On another occasion, Romney said: "I'm not concerned about the very poor," which resulted in a degree of backtracking from his campaign.
The Etch-A-Sketch episode is unlikely to knock his march towards the Republican nomination permanently off course, but it could provide further fodder for Team Obama if Romney manages to clinch the nomination.
