Democrats launched an online blitz Wednesday in a bid to define Richard Mourdock, the new Indiana GOP Senate nominee, as an extremist.
It features online ads in five Indiana news outlets, a lengthy memo by the executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Guy Cecil, and an online video ad (watch below).
The video spot begins with Mourdock's recent statement that he doesn't "believe we need more bipartisanship in Washington. We need principle."
It goes on to quote Mourdock saying that raising the retirement age is a necessity, that the Education Department should be eliminated and that he opposed the auto industry bailout.
It concludes: "Richard Mourdock. 'Extremist Agenda.' 'Extremist Views.' Extremely wrong for Indiana."
All of that is wrapped in a lengthy memo that lays out what Democrats see as examples of Mourdock's extremism. Democrats think Mourdock's victory over Sen. Dick Lugar in Tuesday's primary gives their candidate, Rep. Joe Donnelly, a better chance.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee fired off its own memo making the case for Mourdock Tuesday night, and followed up Wednesday by saying Donnelly should apologize for voting with President Barack Obama.
UPDATE: 11:47 p.m. -- Mourdock's campaign manager, Jim Holden, responded with this statement by email:
Hoosiers want a senator who will stand up to the big spenders in both political parties in order to cut spending, balance the budget, and get our economy on track. That's what Tuesday's election was about. Joe Donnelly went along with Barack Obama by voting for Obamacare, the failed stimulus, and bailouts. Richard Mourdock is a tested two-term statewide official in one of the few states in the country with a genuinely balanced budget. A few web ads aren't going to change this.