The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has released a new ad campaign targeting 17 House Republicans who voted in favor of Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” budget plan.
The web campaign revives a Democratic attack line from the 2012 presidential election, labeling Ryan’s budget as “Robin Hood in reverse.”
Although the ads are ostensibly targeting 17 different vulnerable representatives — the version above is designed to hit California’s David Valadao — Ryan is the undisputed star. The ads feature Ryan explaining that the budget is “an expression of our budgeting philosophy,” interspersed with clips of political analysts describing how Ryan hopes to cut benefits and radically shrink the federal government.
The ad ends with onscreen text naming the target congressperson, and declaring “The Radical Republican Budget: Help the rich get richer. Soak the middle class & seniors.”
According to Talking Points Memo, the ads will target the following representatives:
AR-02 Tim Griffin
AR-04 Tom Cotton
CA-21 David Valadao
CA-31 Gary Miller
CO-06 Mike Coffman
IN-08 Larry Bucshon
MN-02 John Kline
MN-03 Erik Paulsen
NE-02 Lee Terry
NJ-03 Jon Runyan
NY-11 Michael Grimm
NY-23 Tom Reed
OH-14 David Joyce
OH-16 Jim Renacci
PA-08 Mike Fitzpatrick
VA-02 Scott Rigell
WA-03 Jaime Herrera Beutler
The new campaign provides some insight into how Democrats hope to win House elections across the country in 2014. Polling suggests that vast majorities of Americans oppose almost every cut suggested by Ryan, and Ryan’s personal approval rating plummeted to 35 percent in a recent Rasmussen poll — down from 50 percent before he became Mitt Romney’s running mate in August.
Democrats face an uphill battle to capture the net 17 seats that they need to regain the majority in the House of Representatives, but this campaign shows how they plan to fight it: by running against Ryan and his extreme budget at every opportunity.
