The Hill News

Liberals took aim at Republicans including Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in their own backyard on Monday, launching TV ads taking aim at Ryan's 2012 budget.

Americans United for Change launched local television ads against four Midwestern Republicans seizing on House Republicans' recently-passed budget, accusing them of sacrificing Medicare to pay for tax cuts for wealthy Americans.

AUFC targeted Ryan along with Reps. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.), Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.) and Steve King (R-Iowa) with the TV ads, with an initial ad buy totaling $35,000.

The ads are part of a sustained effort by Democrats and partnering liberal groups to turn up the heat on Republicans over the budget they approved before leaving for their most recent recess. In particular, Democrats have focused their attacks on the changes to Medicare proposed in Ryan's budget, changes which liberals have argued would transform the program as seniors have known it.

"This is ! not a 'Path to Prosperity,'" said Tom McMahon, the executive director of AUFC, echoing the name of Ryan's budget plan, "only a path to bankrupting seniors so Paris Hilton and BP can have another tax break.”

Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, has been subject of particularly strong scrutiny. Regarded as one of the GOP's top public faces, Ryan's won reelection comfortably since first having been elected in 1998 from a relatively centrist district that President Obama carried in the 2008 election.

Ryan's felt the pressure upon returning home for this most recent district work period. He was met with jeers from some constituents at a town hall meeting last week, and the Washington Post on Sunday portrayed Ryan's constituents as deeply mixed about his budget plans.

The other Republicans are expected to face pressure in their 2012 reelection efforts. Duffy and Cravaack are from centrist districts that had previously long sent De! mocrats to Congress, while King's expected to face a tough cha! llenge f rom Christie Vilsack, the wife of Agriculture Secretary and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, in a redrawn district.