CAMPAIGN ’88 : Social Security Targeted
As caucus night nears, candidates of both parties are intoning with ever-greater frequency the two words they know will make Iowa’s large contingent of politically active elderly voters take notice: Social Security.
On Tuesday, Republican Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas accused rival Rep. Jack Kemp of New York of distorting his record on Social Security and playing to the fears of the elderly.
Kemp, meanwhile, who has been pounding away at both Dole and Vice President George Bush on Social Security issues, had to defend himself when former Delaware Gov. Pierre S. (Pete) du Pont IV’s campaign pointed out three Kemp votes in Congress that it contended were anti-Social Security. Kemp denied the votes would have reduced benefits and said he cast the votes because the legislation had other flaws.
And on the Democrats’ side, Simon contended that the nominal leader in Iowa polls, Gephardt, “sided with the Republicans” in votes that endangered and undermined Social Security. In particular, Simon singled out Gephardt’s support for the 1981 Reagan tax cuts.
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