Mitt Romney makes gaffe on poor after Florida victory

Washington, Feb 2: Mitt Romney, the front runner in the race to bag the Republican presidential nomination, on Thursday made a gaffe by saying he does not care about the very poor and is concerned about the plight of the middle-class Americans.

The remarks by richest Republican hopeful were considered as blunder by the former Governor of Massachusetts, who a day earlier won the Florida primary by a huge margin. His remarks on the poor were immediately bounced upon by his rivals.

"I'm not concerned about the very poor. 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," Romney told the CNN in an interview.

"I'm concerned about the very heart of America, the 90 per cent, 95% of Americans right now who are struggling, and I'll continue to take that message across the nation," Romney said.

When pointed out by the interviewer that the poorer could see this remark as very odd, Romney said, very poor is not his focus.

The former Governor of Massachusetts said he is focused during the election in the country’s middle class.

"I said, I'm not concerned about the very poor that have a safety net, but if it has holes in it, then I will repair it. But my campaign is focused on middle-income Americans. My campaign — you can choose where to focus. You can focus on the rich. That's not my focus. You can focus on the very poor. That's not my focus," Romney said.

The White House itself did not directly respond to the questions asked in this regard, but did say that the Obama Administration was concerned about the poor as well as the middle class.

PTI