I received an e-mail today informing me that Democratic candidate for the 7th Congressional District, Ed Perlmutter will deliver the National Radio Address for the Democratic Party this Saturday, September 23 at 11:06 AM EST on numerous radios stations nationwide. His remarks will focus on protecting and strengthening Social Security and fighting the renewed threat by President Bush, the Republican Congress and his opponent Rick O’Donnell to privatize Social Security in 2007.

O’Donnell has tried to distance himself from a statement he made years ago while working for Newt Gingrich in which he called Social Security “un-American” and advocated for its abolishment Perlmutter says it wasn’t until this year that he publicly changed his views.

Perlmutter further alleges that in July, O’Donnell has flip-flopped on privatization, first supporting it and then opposing it. Danielle Radovich Piper, his campaign manager, now states, “Social Security is the top issue for thousands of senior citizens in the 7th CD and marks one of the clearest differences between Ed Perlmutter and Rick O’Donnell. Senior’s don’t trust someone who pushed to eliminate Social Security and they don’t trust a politician who tries to change his position two months before the election. People know that if they want to stop President Bush from privatizing Social Security, they need to send Ed Perlmutter to Congress.”

Colorado Media Matters has more on Rick O’Donnell’s social security plan, debunking the idea that he is in favor a “lockbox” like former Vice President Al Gore.

What concerns me about Rick O’Donnell is that both President Bush and Vice President Cheney have come to Colorado to stump and raise money for him. Can he really afford to buck their plan for social security after the election?