The Hill News

Democrats plan to "go on offense" in coming weeks as part of their election-year plan to highlight the consequences of Republican rule, their House campaign chief said.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), suggested that the party would look to paint Republican victories as leading to a return to policies under the administration of President George W. Bush.

"We have to go on offense," Van Hollen said Tuesday evening on MSNBC. "We can talk about the good things we've done, but we also have to paint a very clear picture of what the consequences of Republicans being in charge would be."

Democrats have seized on remarks over the weekend made by top Republicans , including their House and Senate campaign chiefs, suggesting that the GOP might try and revive some of the policies sought during their previous time in control of Congress. Over the past week, Democrats have been fir! ing on all cylinders to push that message, and, party officials say, will continue to do so in the months leading up to the election.

"We're going to go on offense. We're going to go on offense with the issues we've tackled, and the fact that we've begun to put people back to work," Van Hollen said. "After all, we know what the end of the movie was with the Bush policies."

To that end, Democrats like Van Hollen have seized on different leaders' promises to repeal healthcare reform or Wall Street reform, as well as Rep. Joe Barton's (R-Texas) apology to BP. The DCCC chairman has said he's happy to let Republicans keep talking.

"The good news is, they've been telling us more every day," he said. "We just want them to keep talking, because the more the American people know about what they want to do, the more they don't want to go there."