Romney Tells Seniors to Beware 'Perry Scheme'

Mitt Romney, speaking at one of Florida's biggest senior citizen communities yesterday, assured his elderly audience that Social Security is safe—despite Rick Perry. The Texas governor, in a book published last year, called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" because of its funding problems. "I think Social Security has worked pretty darned well," Romney told the enthusiastic crowd of seniors. "I think the problem is keeping it from becoming a Perry scheme."

Romney promised that "Social Security is not going to change for anyone in this room," and said the program should be preserved for future generations, AP reports. Perry's people were quick to return fire, accusing the former Massachusetts governor of scare-mongering. "Mitt Romney continues to turn to the old Democrat playbook of scare tactics to hide from his liberal flip-flopping past," a Perry spokesman tells Politico. (More Social Security stories.)