He actually said, live on CNN, that “I’m not concerned about the very poor.”

With his interviewer, Soledad O’Brien, looking stunned, Mr. Romney explained that the poor have their government safety net, which he would be willing to repair if broken. But he plans to leave it to the Democrats to care about their needs.

“We will hear from the Democrat party the plight of the poor,” he said. “And there’s no question it’s not good being poor and we have a safety net to help those that are very poor. But my campaign is focused on middle Americans. You can choose where to focus, you can focus on the rich, that’s not my focus. You can focus on the very poor, that’s not my focus. My focus is on middle income Americans, retirees living on Social Security, people who can’t find work.”