U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor joined a Barack Obama conference call (audio here)to blast John McCain for supporting private savings accounts as part of his recipe for Social Security reform: "I'm running out of fingers and toes to count the number of times now that John McCain is aligning himself with the policies of George W. Bush...In the state of Florida we are being squeezed; property insurance, health care costs, gas prices, and you're telling me now that John McCain is going to take the safety net out from below Americans and hardworking families and seniors that put so many years into their jobs and their families? It's a real shame."

McCain campaign spokesman Jeff Sadosky: "Kathy Castor’s attacks are exactly what is wrong with the Social Security debate in Washington, and they will not do a thing to calm the worries of Florida’s seniors, who, while living on fixed incomes, are faced with rising food and fuel costs and a home mortgage crisis.  The disgrace is our failure to fix the long-run imbalance in Social Security -- a failure of leadership evidenced by our willingness to kick to problem to the next generation of leaders. John McCain was also describing the looming and increasing demographic pressures confronting the Social Security system and Washington’s utter failure to address it."