A supporter of Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, wears a Trump mask as he dances in the aisle before a town hall Saturday, April 2, 2016, in Rothschild, Wis. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) (Associated Press) 
 
 RACINE, Wis. (AP) — Following one of the worst weeks of his campaign, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was on defense Saturday as he kicked off a three-day sprint to Wisconsin's primary. 
 
 Trump began the afternoon with a rally in the Milwaukee suburb of Racine, where he defended a series of controversial comments in recent days on NATO, abortion and nuclear weapons. 
 
 "This politics is a tough business," said Trump, whose performance in Tuesday's contest will help determine whether he can seize the Republican nomination without a fight at the convention. "Because you can say things one way and the press will criticize you horribly. You say it another way and the press will criticize you horribly." 
 
 Offstage, Trump expressed regret that he had retweeted an unflattering photo of rival Ted Cruz's wife, Heidi, paired with a glamorous photo of his own wife, Melania, as part of a bitter feud between the two men. 
 
 "Yeah, it was a mistake," he told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. "If I had to do it again, I wouldn't have sent it." 
 
 Among his biggest missteps have been Trump's recent comments on abortion, which have managed to unite both abortion rights activists and opponents in their criticism. 
 
 During a taping of "Face The Nation" on Friday, Trump said he believed that, when it comes to abortion: "The laws are set. And I think we have to leave it that way." His spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, quickly issued a clarification that Trump meant that laws won't change until he's president and appoints judges who can interpret them differently. 
 
 It was the second time in days that he'd stepped in hot water over the issue. On Wednesday, he'd said women should be punished for getting abortions if they're ever banned — a position the notoriously unapologetic campaign quickly reversed. 
 
 Trump told one audience on Saturday that his words had been repeatedly taken out of context, and complained he was being held to a different standard than his rivals. He called his comments on "Face the Nation" ''perfect" and "so good." 
 
 "They took words out that I said," Trump told the rally, implying CBS had edited his answer about keeping abortion laws as they are. But the video made clear there was no editing in the exchange about abortion and his response was given in full. 
 
 Speaking to a friendlier crowd in Eau Claire Saturday night, Trump said that, on the plus side, he gets millions of dollars worth of free media coverage, "so I can't complain that much." 
 
 Trump's abortion comments raised concerns in the Republican Party about whether his unpopularity with women as measured in preference polling would make him unelectable in a general election match-up against Democrat Hillary Clinton. 
 
 In an apparent effort to address that concern, Trump said his wife will be campaigning with him Monday. His daughter Ivanka, who just had a baby, will also be returning to campaign with him in another week or so, he said. 
 
 Trump's three events Saturday passed peacefully, though some of his supporters waiting in line to enter the Eau Claire rally exchanged harsh words with the several dozen protesters gathered outside. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Lemire reported from Wausau and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. ||||| Trump quickly recanted and even told CBS’s John Dickerson that “the laws are set. And I think we have to leave it that way.” 
 
 “This was not real life,” he told me. “This was a hypothetical, so I thought of it in terms of a hypothetical. So that’s where that answer came from, hypothetically.” 
 
 Given his draconian comment, sending women back to back alleys, I had to ask: When he was a swinging bachelor in Manhattan, was he ever involved with anyone who had an abortion? 
 
 “Such an interesting question,” he said. “So what’s your next question?” 
 
 I pressed, how he could possibly win with 73 percent of women in this country turned off by him? 
 
 He chose another poll, murmuring, “It was 68 percent, actually.” 
 
 Trump doesn’t have a plan to turn it around with women, except to use Ivanka as a character witness and to chant that “nobody respects women more than I do.” 
 
 “I’m just going to be myself,” he said. “That’s all I can do.” 
 
 I asked how he would get past the damage done by his insults about women’s looks. 
 
 “I attack men far more than I attack women,” he said. “And I attack them tougher.” 
 
 Besides, he noted, he gets attacked on his looks, too. “My hair is just fine, but I get attacked on my hair,” he said. “But if I attack someone else on their hair, they’d say, ‘Oh, what a terrible thing to do.’”
– Maureen Dowd has an unlikely admission from Donald Trump, after a bruising week in which the brash candidate took heat for re-tweeting an unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz: "Yeah, it was a mistake," he tells the New York Times columnist. "If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have sent it." Of his comments that women who get abortions should be punished, Trump also backtracked, telling Dowd that "this was not real life. This was a hypothetical, so I thought of it in terms of a hypothetical. So that’s where that answer came from, hypothetically." When Dowd wonders whether he was ever involved with anyone who had an abortion when "he was a swinging bachelor in Manhattan," he responds thusly: "Such an interesting question. So what’s your next question?" Other un-Trump-like highlights: On his problems with women voters: "Nobody respects women more than I do. I’m just going to be myself. That’s all I can do." On Rosie O'Donnell: "Give me a break, Rosie. I won’t comment on Rosie. I wish her the best. See? In the old days—tell your sister, I’m making progress." (Dowd told Trump he'd lost her sister's vote with the Cruz retweet.) On his hair: It's "phenomenal. My hair is just fine, but I get attacked on my hair. But if I attack someone else on their hair, they’d say, 'Oh, what a terrible thing to do.'" On whether Corey Lewandowski should have just apologized: "You’re right, but from what I understand it wouldn’t have mattered." The softer side of Trump comes as he's campaigning hard in Wisconsin, reports the AP, where he's gotten a rough reception. "This politics is a tough business," Trump told a rally there Saturday. "Because you can say things one way and the press will criticize you horribly. You say it another way and the press will criticize you horribly." The Wisconsin primary is Tuesday.