The Hill News

Republicans sought Friday to dub Democrats' impending August recess a "run for cover" summer, trying out a new line of attack during election season.

Both House GOP leader John Boehner (Ohio) and Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), blasted out emails on Friday looking to frame August recess as a time during which Democrats will find themselves on their heels.

"Now, in what was originally billed as the 'Recovery Summer,' Democrats plan to spend the next month asking voters to overlook their job-killing policies by distracting them with dishonest attacks on Republican candidates," Sessions wrote in a memo released to the press, referencing the slogan under which President Obama and other Democrats are barnstorming the country to tout their economic accomplishments.

"Soon, 'Recovery Summer' may well be known as the Democrats’ 'Run for Cover Summer,'" the NRCC chairman added.!

Boehner echoed the new meme in an NRCC fundraising appeal with the subject line: "Democrats Run for Cover."

"Democrats have been forced to play defense in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's backyard," Boehner wrote, referencing Democrats' move to reserve air time for this fall in reliably liberal markets like San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

"Every dollar they spend in liberal bastions like San Francisco and Washington is a dollar that isn't helping the many other vulnerable Democrats looking for cover for rubber-stamping ObamaCare, the 'stimulus' that didn't work, the 'cap & trade' energy tax, and the rest of the jobs-killing Obama-Pelosi agenda," Boehner added.

The move by these top Republicans comes on the last official business day of the month for the House, before it breaks for August recess, a period during an election year sure to be fraught with intense campaigning.

Both Democrats and Republicans have sought to define! the battle ahead of them in the press this week, with Democra! ts promi sing coordinated, weekly themes they'll use to attack the GOP, and to warn voters of the consequences of a return to Republican control.

Republicans, meanwhile, plan to highlight the economy's continuing struggles during Democratic stewardship, while warning of impending tax hikes at the end of the year if all of President George W. Bush's tax cuts expire.