‘When I Hear 9-9-9, I Want to Call 9-1-1'

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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – ABC News’ Arlette Saenz reports:

With her husband sinking in the polls, Anita Perry went on the attack today. Her target: Herman Cain, the candidate who is on the rise.

When asked about her husband’s tax plan, Perry turned her sights to the signature economic plan of Cain’s campaign, 9-9-9.

“When I hear 9-9-9, I want to call 9-1-1,” Anita Perry told a group of women at the Cribbs Kitchen in Spartanburg, S.C.

Anita Perry, who is campaigning for Texas Gov. Rick Perry in South Carolina today and Friday, touted her husband’s economic accomplishments and said he’d use his Texas strategies to spur job growth across the country.

“He doesn’t need a 9-9-9 plan,” she said. “He doesn’t need a 59-point plan. He has one plan and he knows how to do it because he’s done it in Texas.”

An audience member expressed her disappointment that Cain’s 9-9-9 plan has received all the attention lately while Perry’s accomplishments have not been as well analyzed on the national scene.

“Mr. Cain’s been in this race longer than we have. Mr. Romney’s been running for six years,” Anita Perry said. “It’s taken us a little time. I’m not going to make an excuse but I will give you the facts. Eight weeks, and we’re behind the power a little bit, the power curve a little bit . That’s why I’m here and he’s somewhere else today. We’re trying to get our message out and the misconceptions that have been thrown at him, that perhaps he hasn’t answered as well as I would’ve liked for him to have.

Perry shared her opinion that the debates have not given her husband the time needed to explain his initiatives and accomplishments.

“I think the debates have been unfair,” she said. “I think he’s been the recipient of arrows.”

When asked by ABC News how the couple have fared the past month, Perry said, “It’s kind of been a brutal month, but we are survivors, and we are warriors and we are climbing up that hill to save America.”

As for the sagging poll numbers, Perry was not fazed, saying they’re working on fighting their way back to the top spot.

“We were ahead in the polls four weeks ago, three weeks ago,” she said, ”and it’s part of the process and, like I said, we’re fighters, and we’re on the way back.”