Mitt Romney, the frontrunner 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 the richest Republican hopeful were considered as a blunder by the former governor of Massachusetts, who a day earlier had won the Florida primary by a huge margin. His remarks on the poor were immediately pounced upon by his rivals.
"I am not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I will fix it. I am not concerned about the very rich; they are doing just fine," Romney said in an interview.
"I am concerned about the very heart of America, the 90 per cent, 95 per cent of Americans right now who are struggling, and I will continue to take that message across the nation," Romney said.
When pointed out by the interviewer that the poor could see this remark as very odd, Romney said the "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 am 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 is not my focus. You can focus on the very poor. That is 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.
"I don't have a response specifically to any comment like that by a candidate. The President, for himself, believes that the recession, the great recession, the worst recession since the Great Depression, did harm to Americans of all kinds, and middle-class Americans, lower-income and poor Americans were hit hard by the recession," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters.
"That's why he has been focused very aggressively on doing everything he can to grow the economy and create jobs for everyone. But I don't have anything more on the Republican primary," Carney said.
Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, immediately capitalised on Romney's remarks on the very poor.
"I am fed up with politicians in either party dividing Americans against each other. I am running to be the president of all American people and I am concerned about all the American people," Gingrich said at a campaign event in Nevada.
Romney later told reporters travelling with him in the plane that his comment was taken out of context.
"You have got to take the whole sentence, (or else) it sounds very different. We have a safety net for the poor. If there are people that are falling through the cracks, I want to fix that," he said.
"Of course, I am concerned about all Americans -- poor, wealthy, middle class -- but the focus of my effort will be on middle-income families who I think have been most hurt by the Obama economy," he said.
Romney, who made his fortune in management consulting and private equity, boasts a net worth of approximately $250 million, placing him among the top five richest Americans to run for president in the last 20 years.
