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Tuesday, Dec 18, 2012 6:07 PM UTC

Arizona electors, GOP chairman go birther

"I'm not satisfied with what I've seen," the state's GOP chairman said of the president's birth certificate VIDEO

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Topics: Video, Arizona, Birthers, Barack Obama, Republicans, Tom Morrissey,

Arizona electors, GOP chairman go birther(Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

When it came time to formally cast their votes in the presidential race, three Arizona electors, including the chairman of the state Republican Party, raised concerns about Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president.

On Monday, the state’s 11 electors officially cast their votes for Mitt Romney — but three of them said they still have questions about the president’s birth certificate. ”I’m not satisfied with what I’ve seen,” said Tom Morrissey, state GOP chairman. ”I think for somebody in the president’s position to not have produced a document that looks more legitimate, I have a problem with that.”

“My issue isn’t whether he was born here,” he told KFYI radio on Monday. “I have questions [the birth certificate]. … You know, I have a law enforcement background. I come at this with a little different perspective. It just doesn’t ring right with me.”

Here’s the audio:

According to KNAU.org, Arizona’s public radio station, another elector, Don Ascoli, compared questions about Obama’s birth certificate to the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal. ”The majority of the people had no dream that Bill Clinton did what he did until a young lady had a blue dress and proved he did,” he said. “And he had to come out and apologize to the world because he lied to you and me.”

Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, for her part, dismissed the concerns: ”The bottom line is everybody’s entitled to their own opinion. And I happen to disagree.”

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Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

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