LAS VEGAS (MCT) — Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney engaged in a skirmish over the middle class with President Barack Obama’s campaign Wednesday, a preview of a clash that could dominate a fall campaign between the two.
Fresh from a major win in Florida and heading West for a Nevada vote Saturday, Romney said he would focus on helping the middle class, as the rich could care of themselves and the poor already had a safety net.
“I’m not concerned about the very poor,” the former Massachusetts governor said on CNN from Florida on Wednesday morning before he flew off to Minnesota and then Nevada.
“We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich. They’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who are struggling.”
But Romney’s tax plan could raise taxes for lower-income families and would give big tax cuts to millionaires.
Obama’s campaign seized on the part about not needing to do any more to help the poor, using it to portray Romney as insensitive to the poor.
“So much for ‘We’re all in this together,’” Obama campaign manager Jim Messina tweeted.
The exchange came as Romney emerged as the clear front-runner for the Republican nomination after winning the Florida primary Tuesday. He and his three rivals rolled West on Wednesday, as the campaign headed into a three-week stretch in states that Romney won in 2008: caucuses Saturday in Nevada, Tuesday in Colorado and Minnesota, and Feb. 11 in Maine.
