Paul LePage phone campaign focuses on Social Security

PORTLAND, Maine — Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s re-election team has launched a phone campaign seeking to clarify the Republican governor’s position on Social Security.

LePage’s political foes criticized a news release from his office last week that they said categorized Social Security, Medicare payments, Medicaid and unemployment insurance benefits as forms of “welfare, pure and simple.” LePage’s campaign said the governor doesn’t think Social Security is welfare and that Democrats took his words out of context.