Tagg Romney campaigns for his father in Maine.

Tagg Romney campaigns for his father in Maine. Joel Page/AP

Tagg Romney: I wanted to 'take a swing' at Obama during debate

GOP candidate's eldest son says his father has been painted as 'someone he's not.'

Tagg Romney, the eldest of Mitt Romney's five sons, said on Wednesday that he wanted to “take a swing” at President Obama during Tuesday night’s debate, BuzzFeed reports.

Speaking on a local North Carolina radio station, Romney was asked about hearing “the president of the United States call your dad a liar.”

“You want to rush down to the stage and take a swing at him,” Tagg said jokingly, according to BuzzFeed audio. “But you know you can't do that because, well, first because there’s a lot of Secret Service between you and him, but also because that's the nature of the process.”

He continued, saying the Obama campaign has set out to make his father “someone’s he’s not,” but he acknowledged that they have to “sit there and take our punches.” Before the debate, he said, his father gets nervous.

“Are you kidding? He's terrified before he gets out there!” he said. “Terrified is too strong a word. But you know, like anybody, he gets butterflies a little bit. And then once he's in it, two or three minutes, he's forgotten about the nervousness.”

Romney has taken on a larger role in the campaign in recent weeks, speaking at more events and reportedly advising his father on strategy.