Businessman Bill Flores (R), "blaming a headache for a verbal miscue," has backed away from saying he's "not philosophically opposed" to raising the Social Security retirement age for future recipients." Flores said 10/15 he "misspoke" when he was asked about it: "Voters should be assured that I absolutely do not support raising the retirement age for Social Security."

Rep. Chet Edwards (D): "The difference between Mr. Flores and me is that I strongly oppose raising the Social Security retirement age to 70. With Mr. Flores, it depends which day of the week you ask him."

The "dustup" stems from Flores' taped interview earlier this week with Inside Texas Politics. On 10/14, Flores called the program and asked him not to air his response" because he had a headache during the interview (Mason, Dallas Morning News, 10/15).