Republican presidential hopeful former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts focused on Florida on Tuesday, building his team in the Sunshine State and taking aim at primary rival Gov. Rick Perry of Texas.
With Florida holding its presidential primary early in the campaign cycle -- with a committee voting last week to hold the event on Jan. 31 -- the Sunshine State remains important after the GOP presidential hopefuls clashed at the Presidency 5 straw poll in Orlando last month. Romney, who has largely ignored straw polls in 2011, placed third behind businessman Herman Cain and Perry.
Romney campaigned in The Villages on Tuesday and will be in Tallahassee on Wednesday. With the Legislature holding committee meetings this week, there is speculation that Romney could be receiving additional endorsements when he appears in Tallahassee.
The Romney camp released a white paper that attacked Perry on Social Security. During past debates, Romney has hammered Perry on the issue, specifically calling out the Texas governor over a reference that Social Security was a Ponzi scheme and should be left to the states.
Governor Rick Perry has proposed that Social Security be turned over to the states, the Romney camp wrote in the white paper. But transferring the programs fiscal challenges to states already facing severe budget crises of their own will only make matters worse, especially in those states with relatively high numbers of Social Security beneficiaries."
The Romney camp looked at Perrys plans on Social Security and how it would impact four states -- Florida, Iowa which hosts the first presidential caucus, Arizona and Louisiana. The Romney team insisted that Florida would suffer under Perrys plans.
Florida could face a $16 billion shortfall, the Romney camp insisted. The Romney team maintained that this led to four possibilities: cutting a million recipients from Social Security; cutting benefits more than $4,000 per individual; slashing funding on other government programs; or raising taxes.
The Perry camp fired back Tuesday afternoon, arguing the former Massachusetts governor was using false, Democratic scare tactics. Pointing to Romneys record in the Bay State, the Perry team claimed that, under their rival, 95 percent of state and local workers were opted out of Social Security.
Romneys latest Social Security attack is not only false, it belies his own record of favoring a state-run pension plan over Social Security, Mark Miner, a spokesman for Perry, said in a statement. When Mitt Romney left office, more than 95 percent of state and local workers in Massachusetts were not participating in Social Security. Instead, they were covered by a state-run pension plan, the very idea that Romney now says hes against.
Mitt Romney should explain why he never moved his state employees into the Social Security system if he believed it was better than the state's pension plan, Miner added. Romneys latest flip-flop on public employee pensions calls into question his authenticity and his ability to deliver on any promise made on the campaign trail.
Miner attempted to contrast Romneys tactics with Perrys.
Governor Perry is speaking honestly about protecting Social Security benefits for current and near-retirees, but also addressing the long-term financial challenges to improving the program for younger workers, Miner said.
Besides touring Florida, the Romney camp added to their team in the Sunshine State on Tuesday. The Romney campaign announced that veteran Republican leader Phil Handy would be joining the campaign as co-chairman of the Florida Advisory Committee and of their National Education Policy Committee.
I am pleased to earn the support of Phil Handy, Romney said in a statement. Phil will be critical to my campaign in Florida and will be a trusted adviser on education policy. I look forward to working with him as I reach out to voters in Florida and across the country.
President Obama and his policies have failed to deliver promised results to the American people, said Handy. Mitt Romneys leadership is needed today more than ever. His record as governor of Massachusetts and experience in the private sector gives me great confidence that he can put our country back on the path to prosperity. He understands the important connection between Americas global economic competitiveness and world-class schools. As governor, he emphasized innovation and results at the state level and guided Massachusetts to distinction as a national leader in education.
Handy headed Jeb Bushs gubernatorial bids as campaign chairman in 1994 and 1998 and as campaign co-chairman in 2002. In recent years, Handy served as state chairman for John McCains presidential bid in 2008, and was a state chairman and national finance co-chairman for former Gov. Tim Pawlentys presidential campaign, which ended in August.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
