In a campaign stop Tuesday outside Pittsburgh, Mitt Romney made what many locals considered a tasteless remark about cookies from a local landmark bakery. 
 
 With a plate of cookies in front of him, Mitt Romney speaks at a Tax Day roundtable event at the Bethel Park Community Center on April 17, 2012 in Bethel Park, Pa. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images) 
 
 Mr. Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, met with four couples at the Bethel Park Community Center to talk about the deficit, health care and education. The meeting got off to a rocky start, however, when the governor sat down at a picnic table set with food and made an apparent attempt at humor. 
 
 “I’m not sure about these cookies,” Mr. Romney said. “They don’t look like you made them,” he said turning to one of the women at the table. “Did you make those cookies? You didn’t, did you? No. No. They came from the local 7-Eleven bakery or wherever.” (The video from the local CBS station is here.) 
 
 The cookies, in fact, were donated from the popular Bethel Bakery around the corner from the community center, and once Mr. Romney’s comment was broadcast on local airwaves offended residents took to Facebook and Twitter to complain. The episode was inevitably called “CookieGate.” The bakery is offering a CookieGate special Wednesday and Thursday: free half dozen cookies with every dozen purchased. 
 
 “Initially, we were incensed that he would think that Bethel Bakery is comparable to the 7-Eleven,” said bakery owner John Walsh, a Republican. Mr. Walsh, whose parents opened the bakery in 1955, said he thinks the comment was made in jest and would like Gov. Romney to try the bakery’s offerings in the future. 
 
 But some bitterness remained. “Let him eat cake next time,” Mr. Walsh said. 
 
 Margaret Chabris, a 7-Eleven spokeswoman, said people at the company got “a chuckle” out of the incident and didn’t take Mr. Romney’s remarks as being critical of the chain. “Actually Mitt Romney got it right,” she said. “There are bakeries dedicated to making cookies every day for our 5,500 stores.” 

 BETHEL PARK (KDKA) – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney held a community roundtable event in Bethel Park Tuesday afternoon. 
 
 The event was held at the Community Center around 12:30 p.m. and topics of discussion included the economy and taxes. 
 
 Romney used Tax Day to oppose the president’s plan to hike the upper income tax rate. 
 
 “When he wants to raise the tax rate from 35 percent to 40 percent, that will impact a lot of small businesses and probably lead to some businesses having to lay people off,” he said. 
 
 The couples then had a chance to raise their own issues. 
 
 “I’m worried not only for my daughter’s future, but for my parents’ future,” a female voter said. “I want them to enjoy their golden years and not have to worry about everything.” 
 
 “I share the concern,” Romney replied. “We got to make sure that the safety net of Social Security and Medicare and those are – we call them a safety net but they’re also retirement plans – they’re programs that people work for, save for, put money in – it’s a support that people pay for that it’s there – they’re confident those programs will be there.” 
 
 Romney says this election turns on the economy. 
 
 “The median income in America has dropped by 10 percent in the last four years,” he said. 
 
 Romney only has a few events planned in Pennsylvania because the next week’s primary is not as important anymore with Rick Santorum pulling out of the race. 
 
 Romney is expected to win the primary on April 24, along with the delegate count. Delegates are elected to the GOP convention by each of the 18 congressional districts in the state. 
 
 KDKA-TV’s Jon Delano doesn’t expect to see Romney return much to Pennsylvania until November’s election. 
 
 Delano also said Pennsylvania is one on a list of about 12 states that Republicans see as must wins in order to win the presidency. 
 
 Only two Republicans have won a presidential election without winning Pennsylvania. 
 
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– In Pittsburgh, they're calling it "CookieGate," but fair warning, it's not exactly a serious political scandal. Mitt Romney held a tax day picnic just outside the city Tuesday, in what should have been an easy photo op, if only he hadn't mentioned the food. "I'm not sure about these cookies," he said, turning to a woman next to him. "They don't look like you made them. Did you make those cookies? You didn't did you? No. No. They came from the local 7-Eleven bakery or whatever." The cookies actually came from much-beloved local establishment Bethel Bakery, and when video of his quip aired on CBS 2 Pittsburgh, it sparked an outrage, the Wall Street Journal reports. The bakery is now holding a "CookieGate Special," and though owner John Walsh, a Republican, isn't taking the comments too seriously, he says, "Let him eat cake next time."