Washington, Oct 29: The leading Republican presidential candidate, former-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, may need a censor. For himself.

In the last few weeks, Romney, who owns several homes, told voters in Nevada, a state hit tough by the housing crisis: “Don't try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom.”

Earlier this year, the former venture capitalist uttered, “Corporations are people,” with America in the midst of a debate over Wall Street greed vs. Main Street hard times.

At an event in economically suffering Florida, the retiree—who is a multimillionaire many times over—told out-of-work voters, “I'm also unemployed.”

Over the past year, the candidate has amassed a collection of off-the-cuff comments that expose his vulnerabilities and, taken together, cast him as out-of-touch with Americans who face staggering unemployment, widespread foreclosures and a dire outlook on the economy.

So far, the foot-in-mouth remarks haven't seemed to affect his standing in the Republican nomination race to challenge the top Democrat, President Barack Obama, in the 2012 presidential election.

But neither has Romney been able to pull away from the pack—largely due to doubts about past positions considered liberal by the party's conservative base and his Mormon faith—an issue for many evangelical voters.

Romney has run a far more cautious and disciplined campaign than his losing bid of four years ago. He's kept the focus on his core message: He's the strongest candidate able to beat Obama on the biggest issue of the campaign, the economy. He still enjoys leading positions in public opinion polls in early primary states and across America. Few, if any, of the other Republicans in the race have turned his remarks against him.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Romney's chief rival with the money to prove it, is all but certain to try. Perry has already started suggesting that Romney lives a life of privilege while he comes from humble roots.

In an interview Friday with CNN, another Republican candidate, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, painted Romney as “a perfectly lubricated weather vane on the important issues of the day,” playing up Romney's ever-changing stances—or “flip-flops.”

And Romney's eyebrow-raising comments are tailor-made for critical TV ads.

Look no further than the Democratic Party and Obama's advisers for proof of that.

Each time Romney says something that makes even his closest aides grimace, Democrats quickly put together a Web video highlighting the remark—a preview of certain lines of attack come the general election should the former Massachusetts governor win the nomination.

“Mitt Romney's message to Arizona? You're on your own,” says a new ad by the Democratic National Committee that jumps on Romney's foreclosure remarks.

Romney's team publicly dismisses their boss's occasional loose lips, dismissing them as inconsequential to voters focused on an unemployment rate hovering around 9 percent.

“It's a long campaign and at the end of the day people are going to judge Gov. Romney and his ability to take on President Obama over jobs and the economy. And certainly there will be a lot of back and forth as the campaign progresses,” said Russ Schriefer, a Romney strategist.

It usually takes more than one gaffe or one mistake to undo a campaign. And other candidates have made their own potentially problematic comments.

Take, for instance, Herman Cain's assertion that the Wall Street protesters are in the streets to distract from Obama's record: “If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself.”

Or Perry's suggestion that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is “almost treasonous”: “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don't what y'all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.”

But a string of unforced errors, when combined, can reinforce unfavorable perceptions of the candidate, as Romney aides privately acknowledge.