Sen. Judd Gregg caused a minor flap in Iowa this week when he referred to the first-caucus state as "a place where (people) pick corn."

"I've always, being from New Hampshire, viewed Iowa as being a place where they pick corn and New Hampshire being a place where we pick presidents," Gregg said Monday in an interview with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer.

Gregg is a national co-chairman of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. On Wednesday, Romney distanced himself from the senator's quip.

"Well it sounds like a New Hampshire senator to me. I don't subscribe to his comment," Romney told reporters.

GREGG

"As you know, I've spent more time in Iowa than anyone else running for president and probably more time in Iowa than any other state. And, I'm proud of the work here in Iowa, and obviously I wouldn't have spent the time and effort here had I not believed that Iowa has a huge voice."

Gregg's comment on "The Situation Room" was a response to a question about former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose stock appears to be rising in Iowa. A recent Washington Post-ABC poll found Huckabee pulling within 4 percentage points of Romney, the longtime poll leader, among likely caucus-goers.

Blitzer asked whether Huckabee's recent success poses a threat to the Romney campaign.

"Quite honestly, I don't focus a whole lot on Iowa," Gregg said on Blitzer's show.

SUNUNU

Gregg's comment was a variation on a line used by New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu in 1988, when Sen. Bob Dole took first place in Iowa over then-Vice President George H. W. Bush.

"When they came from Iowa to New Hampshire, the press was saying, 'Isn't it terrible the (vice) president lost in Iowa? Aren't you worried about that?' " Sununu recalled. "My answer to that was, 'Iowa picks corn; New Hampshire picks Presidents.' "

Sununu has repeated the line many times since, including in a 2000 interview with Blitzer on CNN. He has never gotten in trouble for it, he said.

"It's always been taken as a joke. Except in Iowa," he said.

Originally, Sununu said, the line was less a dig at Iowa than a reminder that New Hampshire at that time boasted an unblemished record of voting for the candidate who would go on to the White House. A common state slogan at the time was, "Always First, Always Right."

Sununu said he does not mind that Gregg did not give him credit for the joke, saying, "If Judd wants to be the author of that, I'm very happy to let him."

Gregg endorsed Romney for president last month. At the time, he said, "(I) never thought I'd endorse a governor of Massachusetts for anything, but I never thought the Red Sox would win the World Series twice in my lifetime, either."

The senator is now appearing in a new radio ad for Romney. In the 60-second spot, launched Wednesday in New Hampshire, Gregg says the country needs Romney's "can-do, get-it-done, let's-solve-the-problem optimism."

"He built small and large businesses. His leadership saved the Olympics, and as governor of Massachusetts, Mitt turned that state around," Gregg says.

New Hampshire Union Leader Staff Writer Scott Brooks contributed to this report.