The Ames Straw Poll and debate is just days away, but Republican candidates aren’t the only ones who are gearing up for the event. The Democrat National Committee (DNC) is looking to sway the conversation in the Hawkeye State, too.
On Monday, the DNC released a web video titled, “Extreme Aims”. The goal, according to the release announcing the video, is to define the GOP candidates as ideologically extreme, out to undercut senior citizens and the middle class.
The DNC release also blasts the candidates for supporting the House Republican budget “that would end Medicare as we know it and gives more tax giveaways to millionaires, billionaires, and the special interests.”
That’s not even to mention their support of the Cut, Cap, and Balance plan, which was introduced by conservative lawmakers during the height of the debt limit debate. The DNC has labeled the plan “Duck, Dodge, and Dismantle,” “because they are ducking their obligation to the Middle Class; dodging their obligation to our nation’s seniors; and, they want to dismantle critical education and job creation programs…”
The “Extreme Aims” video, which lasts a little more than a minute, shows highlights from Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, and Tim Pawlenty, and compares them to “Washington Republicans (aka Reps. John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan) and the Tea Party.”
“Republican Presidential candidates are providing no new leadership,” says the video. “They’re just following the Tea Party and Republicans in Congress.”
The DNC’s Iowa campaign will continue throughout the week following Monday’s video release, and will include individual profiles for each “extreme” candidate.
DNC Chair Rep. Debbe Wasserman Schultz will also be on the ground throughout the Ames Straw poll event to meet with Democrat activists. According to the release, “rumor has it she will also eat something fried on a stick.”
President Barack Obama will even swing through the state on his Midwest bus tour on the heels of the DNC campaign, three days after the straw poll. On August 16, the President will stop in Peosta to host the White House Rural Economic Forum at Northeast Iowa Community College.
The bus tour, however, has been criticized by the GOP candidates for appearing to be a taxpayer-funded political event. Newt Gingrich even called the tour “an insult to the intelligence of every American.”
The events kick off Thursday with a debate hosted by Fox News, The Washington Examiner, and the Iowa GOP. The straw poll will be held on Saturday. Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and Thad McCotter are all competing in the straw poll.
Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, and possible late-comer Rick Perry will not compete, though the first three will participate in the debate. The Iowa debate will be the first for Huntsman this cycle.