Republican contenders clash at Florida TV debate

[Gerald]

The next Republican debate will take place on 22 September in Orlando, Florida.

Texas Governor Rick Perry's outspoken views on Social Security have come under fire as Republican White House contenders hold their latest TV debate.

Mr Perry labelled Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" and "monstrous lie" in last week's lively encounter.

This time he faced his rivals in Tampa, Florida - the US state with the largest proportion of elderly voters for whom pensions are a vital source of income.

A poll on Monday gave Mr Perry a wide lead over the other contenders.

Some 30% of Americans said they would support him to be the Republican nominee, compared with 18% for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, according to the poll by CNN and ORC International.

In Monday evening's fifth debate, hosted this time by CNN, Mr Romney went on the attack early against Mr Perry over Social Security.

Bachmann attacks

He challenged the Texas governor on whether he still believed an assertion in his book, Fed Up!, that the programme was unconstitutional.

Mr Perry, a conservative Tea Party favourite, countered that Mr Romney had labelled Social Security's finances - in his book, No Apology - as criminal.

"You've got to quote me correctly," Mr Romney responded. "What I said was taking money out of the Social Security trust fund is criminal and it's wrong."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14890306


Note: 13 September 2011 Last updated at 04:03 GMT