SIMI VALLEY, Calif., (Reuters) – Texas Governor Rick Perry came out swinging in his national debut yesterday, all but calling President Barack Obama a liar, describing Social Security as a fraud and attacking his main Republican rival in the presidential race.
Perry, a conservative Tea Party favorite and the Republican front-runner, traded barbs with closest competitor Mitt Romney over who has created more jobs.
Their testy exchange in Perry’s first presidential debate was proof that the fight to determine the 2012 Republican challenger to Democrat Obama is becoming a two-man contest.
The Republicans battled with each other to promote their records on jobs, a day before Obama makes a crucial speech to Congress on his plan to bring down the 9.1 percent jobless rate.
Perry, who entered the race only a month ago and has leapfrogged over Romney in Republican polls, was full of confidence but may be forced to defend some blunt comments.
Using harsh language, he said Obama is an “abject liar” if he believes the U.S. border with Mexico is stronger.
And Perry declared Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” the kind of comment that Democrats can seize on as proof that the Texas governor would try to dismantle the popular government-run retirement program.
“Anybody that’s for the status quo with Social Security today is involved with a monstrous lie to our kids, and it’s not right,” said Perry.
It was up to former Massachusetts Governor Romney to defend the popular entitlement program for seniors and allow him to appeal to independent voters who may well decide the 2012 election.
“You can’t say that to tens of millions of Americans who live on Social Security and those who have lived on it,” Romney said.
The Perry-Romney fireworks largely overshadowed the six other candidates in the debate, reducing almost to spectators Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, seen as the third-placed contender, and the gaggle of other longshot candidates.
TWO-MAN RACE
The debate at the Ronald Reagan presidential library, a shrine to the Republican president, was the first in a series in the next six weeks likely to help define the Republican race with early voting states to begin choosing early next year.
“Basically this is another affirmation that the race has become a two-man contest,” said Matthew Dowd, a former campaign strategist for President George W. Bush. “Perry met the threshold and Romney stays in.”
Of Bachmann, Dowd said: “she disappeared off the podium.”
The event, sponsored by NBC News and Politico, was only minutes old when Perry charged Romney with having one of the worst records creating jobs in Massachusetts in history.