Mitt Romney, Republican presidential frontrunner, agreed today that the traditionally-male Augusta National golf club should allow women to join.

"Certainly if I were a member, if I could run Augusta, which isn't likely to happen, of course I'd have women into Augusta," Romney told reporters today, according to CNN's Peter Hamby.

"As has been the case whenever that question is asked; all issues of membership have been and are subject to private deliberations of the members," Augusta National chairman Billy Payne told ESPN. "That statement remains accurate and that remains my statement."

The White House weighed in on the issue today. "[President Obama] believes, his personal opinion is, women should be admitted," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters earlier today. "We're now long past the time when women should be excluded from anything," he said.

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The issue of the private club's membership policy has garnered national attention, as the Masters tournament begins this weekend, because "one of the club's longtime sponsors, IBM, has a new female CEO, Virginia Rometty," the Associated Press explains. "The last four CEOs at IBM, all male, have been invited to be members."