I don't have much to add about Mitt Romney's assertion that he doesn't need to worry about the very poor on account of the safety net he aims to dismantle and the Democrats he aims to unseat. Except that you really should read Gail Collins on this (and everything else):

My focus is on middle-income Americans: Retirees living on Social Security. People who can’t find work. ...

Whoa! Do you think he’s suggesting that the very poor do not have a
problem finding work? That they’re too lazy to look? Or does he just
figure that they’re all disabled, or children, or old people who don’t
get Social Security? That would be pretty harsh. And weird, if he’s
trying to say: “I only care about the elderly if they made enough money
to qualify for Social Security. The rest are doing fine under government
programs.”

Folks that have kids that are getting ready to go to college. These
are the people who have been most badly hurt during the Obama years. We
have a very ample safety net, and we can talk about whether it needs to
be strengthened or whether there are holes in it. But we have food
stamps. We have Medicaid. We have housing vouchers. We have programs to
help the poor. ...

Romney seems obsessed with the idea that his enemies are spreading
rumors that he’s going to be devoting his presidential campaign to
proposing new programs to help the poor. Really, I do not think this is
going to be a problem.

Read it all.