The Hill News

Democrats took a page out of the 2008 playbook against Mitt Romney (R) on Thursday, calling the former Massachusetts governor a "flip-flopper" as he launched his presidential campaign.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sought to cast Romney as a serial shape-shifter when it comes to his political positions, all to win votes. The attack comes as Romney prepares to formally launch his campaign on Thursday with a speech in New Hampshire.

The DNC released a web video including clips of Romney, alleging reversals on healthcare, the stimulus, and bailouts for Wall Street and the auto industry.

"Mitt Romney is going to announce his run for President today but he's going into this campaign with the same fatal flaws that doomed him the first time around: that he's seen as a wishy-washy, flip-flopping politician who lacks any core convictions or principles and who you simply can't trust to shoot straight with you," said Brad Woodhouse, the co! mmunications director for the DNC. "Mitt Romney may now be the most notorious flip-flopper in modern political history."

The DNC used this line of attack before Romney's healthcare speech in Ann Arbor, Mich., anticipating a reversal by Romney on the healthcare law he signed as governor. Instead, Romney stood by the plan, despite its similarities to President Obama's healthcare law, and despite the political liability that plan poses to his presidential campaign.

Romney's also sought to diminish the flip-flopper image by focusing the early stages of his campaign largely on issues related to jobs and the economy. His Thursday speech will say that Obama "has failed America" when it comes to growing the economy, a central theme of his campaign.