Paul Ryan budget supporter target of House Democrats’ first TV ad of general election

By Rosalind S. Helderman,

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched its first television ad of the general election cycle Thursday, targeting a freshman Republican congressman for his vote on behalf of vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s proposal to overhaul Medicare.

It is a sign of how potent Democrats believe Ryan’s budget will be in down-ticket races, particularly now that the Wisconsin congressman’s ideas have been elevated to the national stage by GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The DCCC’s first target is Rep. Dan Benishek (Mich.) , a particularly irresistible choice for Democrats because he’s a doctor who wears scrubs in ads on behalf of his tightly contested reelection effort.

The ad features a clip of Benishek praising efforts to “privatize” Medicare and Social Security.

“Benishek’s voted to essentially end Medicare — forcing seniors to pay over $6,000 more a year,” the ad’s announcer says.

It is the first of what promises to be a barrage of ads from Democrats taking congressional Republicans to task for supporting the budget Ryan authored as chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Ryan’s plan leaves Medicare benefits untouched for current retirees but over time would shift the program from an open-ended guarantee of care to a capped payment to seniors to use to purchase private insurance.

Ryan and Romney have worked to neutralize Democratic attacks on the Medicare proposal, partly by slamming Democrats for including cuts to Medicare providers in the 2010 health-care reform effort. Ryan assumed those same cuts in his budget proposal adopted by the House this year, but Romney has said he would restore them.

“We want this debate. We need this debate. And we will win this debate,” Ryan told a crowd in Oxford, Ohio, on Wednesday night

The top-of-the-ticket Medicare pushback was echoed Thursday in Benishek’s response to the new ad.

Katie Prill, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Benishek opponent Gary McDowell—a former congressman defeated in 2010 after voting for the Affordable Care Act—supported ”slashing over $700 billion from Medicare to pay for ObamaCare.”

“Northern Michigan seniors are terrified of Gary McDowell going to Congress and that is why they rejected him in 2010,” she said.

Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio) told fellow Republican House members Tuesday that they should not fear the Democratic onslaught over their votes on behalf of the Ryan budget. He told his conference that Ryan’s selection had brought the “adult leadership” Americans have sought on spending to the ticket.

“The pundits are buzzing that with Paul on the ticket, the Democrats are going to attack us on Medicare. Well, here’s a news flash: They were gonna do that anyway,” Boehner said, according to a source familiar with the private conference call. “The best defense on Medicare is a good offense. And Paul Ryan gives us the ability to play offense.”

A number of Republican House and Senate candidates have followed Boehner’s lead and used Ryan’s elevation to the ticket as a chance to contend that only the GOP is offering proposals for curbing Medicare spending and bringing down the deficit.

“I think people want to hear the truth. They understand that we’re in real trouble in this country. They want to hear from someone with specific solutions,” said Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa), who is in a tough race against Rep. Leonard L. Boswell (D).

But Republican strategists remain antsy — and Democrats enthused — about polling data on the popularity of Ryan-like Medicare reform. Some have sought to distance themselves from the Ryan plan since Romney named him to the ticket Saturday.

In a conservative western New York district where Rep. Kathy Hochul (D) won a special election last year widely seen as a referendum on Ryan’s budget, an adviser to challenger Chris Collins (R) told a television station he does not support Ryan’s budget cuts.

Former New Mexico congresswoman Heather Wilson (R), running against Rep. Martin Heinrich (D) to replace Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D), has said the same. So has Brendan Doherty, a Republican running in moderate Rhode Island, and Maggie Brooks, a Republican running in New York.

“You’ve got all these Harry Houdinis all over the country trying to untangle themselves from the Ryan budget,” said Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the DCCC. “And we’re not going to let them.”

Felicia Sonmez in Oxford, Ohio, and Ed O’Keefe in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.