New Ad Attacks Obama on Medicare

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and SARAH WHEATON

Mitt Romney‘s campaign signaled that it intended to fight rather than run from Democratic attacks over Republican Medicare policies, unveiling a new ad that stresses that President Obama cut $700 billion from the program.

Medicare has emerged as the main flash point in the campaign since the selection of Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin and an advocate of fundamentally overhauling Medicare, as Mr. Romney's running mate. Democrats have responded aggressively, saying the Republican ticket would “end Medicare as we know it.”

But with the new ad, Mr. Romney is making clear that he and Mr. Ryan will counterattack by invoking a criticism that Congressional Republicans used with some success in the 2010 elections: that Mr. Obama is the one who is endangering Medicare through his decision to cut $700 billion from the program as part of his health care bill.

The Romney ad, which will begin running soon, says that “the money you paid for your guaranteed health care is going to a massive new government program that's not for you.”

Democrats say the attack is an unfair and misleading attempt to scare seniors. They say that the $700 billion cut was to projected future growth in Medicare costs and did not cut benefits to current retirees. And they note that the budget by Mr. Ryan, the vice-presidential nominee, also includes the same cuts.

Medicare has re-emerged as a central fight in the presidential and Congressional campaigns this year in the wake of Mr. Ryan joining the Republican ticket. Mr. Obama and his allies have made it clear they intend to seize on the Medicare issue.

A union group has already begun buying online ads in Nevada saying that the “Romney-Ryan” plan would “double seniors' costs” and “raise the retirement age.” A video by the Democratic National Committee talks about throwing “sen iors under the bus.”

But the Romney campaign's decision to quickly produce its own Medicare ad suggests that it is prepared to fight Democratic charges that Mr. Ryan's budget would gut the Medicare system by changing it into a voucher program.

Rather than engage in a purely defensive debate about Mr. Ryan's budget, the Republican ad aims to generate concerns among seniors about what would happen to Medicare if Mr. Obama is re-elected.

Republicans down the ballot have already begun making a similar argument. This morning, Representative John L. Mica of Florida released a spot - first posted to YouTube in July - in which an announcer says he is “committed to repealing Obamacare and restoring Medicare.”

Republicans in Mr. Mica's redrawn Central Florida will decide Tuesday whether to nominate him or a Tea Party-backed candidate, Representative Sandy Adams, for a chance to return to Congress, but the ad seems geared more toward the general election.< /p>

“There will be increased advertising in Florida related to this issue,” said Elizabeth Wilner, vice president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, “and Mica is trying to get ahead of the curve.”