Romney, Obama fight for edge on Medicare

The jobs-and-economy election suddenly seems all about Medicare -- for now, at least.

Republican Mitt Romney, who held a fundraiser Friday night at the Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, is embracing a topic his party usually approaches gingerly. He is taking a calculated risk that voters' worries about federal deficits and the Democrats' health care overhaul have opened the door for a robust debate on the solvency of Medicare, the insurance program for retirees.

President Barack Obama is welcoming the conversation, which has temporarily taken attention from the weak economic recovery.

Retirees in politically prized states such as Florida have often resisted changes in Medicare, one of the government's most popular but costliest programs. But GOP strategists say today's voters realize Medicare spending must be constrained, and Romney is banking on disenchantment with Obama's 2010 health care law to pave the way for his own proposals.

Meanwhile Friday, Romney and the White House condemned a new round of anti-Israel remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Romney told 80 people at the Southampton fundraiser: "Ahmadinejad of Iran made another series of vile statements about Israel, and excising Israel from the body of humanity, and so forth. And you recognize how critical it is to have leadership that describes precisely what it believes, describes what actions it's willing to take, and stands for something."

The Romney campaign said 130 tickets were sold for the fundraiser, at $25,000 each.

Romney put Medicare at the campaign's center when he chose his running mate. Rep. Paul Ryan is Congress' chief advocate of significantly restraining entitlement programs.

Ryan did not address his Medicare plan at a campaign stop in Glen Allen, Va., Friday, a break from the previous day's events in Ohio. But the Wisconsin congressman is expected to revisit Medicare in some depth in Florida Saturday. He will face voters in a retirement community north of Orlando known as The Villages. Ryan's 78-year-old mother, a Medicare recipient, plans to attend.

Romney's willingness to tackle the issue was underscored Thursday when he used a marker and classroom-type whiteboard to summarize his thoughts on Medicare, with hardly a word about the unemployment rate. He said his plans would keep Medicare solvent while Obama's would not, a claim Democrats call absurd.

The Obama campaign released a new TV ad Friday defending the president's record on Medicare.

It points to the AARP, a group that represents senior citizens, and said in a letter to lawmakers earlier this year that Ryan's plan would lead to higher costs for seniors. Romney's campaign disputed the ad.