Romney birth certificate joke raises ire of Obama campaign (VIDEO)

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is taking heat for an apparent joke he made about the president's birth certificate during a campaign stop in his home state of Michigan on Friday.

"I love being home in this place where Ann and I were raised, where both of us were born," CNN quoted Romney as saying. "Ann was born at Henry Ford hospital, I was born at Harper hospital."

"No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised."

The comment drew immediate rebuke from the Obama campaign, with spokesman Ben LaBolt emailing reporters the minute Romney finished speaking at an orchard farm and cider mill in Commerce, Mich., CBS reported.

"Throughout this campaign, Governor Romney has embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them," LaBolt wrote in the statement, obtained by CBS News. "It's one thing to give the stage in Tampa to Donald Trump, [Arizona] Sheriff [Joe] Arpaio, and [Kansas Secretary of State] Kris Kobach. But Governor Romney's decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America."

Romney adviser Kevin Madden told Reuters that the former Massachusetts governor has always believed Obama was born in the United States.

"He was only referencing that Michigan, where he is campaigning today, is the state where he himself was born and raised," Madden said, according to Reuters.

It's Romney's second controversial comment in less than 24 hours.

On Thursday, he took heat for saying big business is "doing fine" in most places, seemingly contradicting his own earlier statements that companies are struggling under Obama, The Huffington Post reported.