Paul video focuses squarely on Gingrich

A campaign video released by Ron Paul's campaign on Wednesday makes no mention of the Texas congressman. Instead, it focuses entirely on damaging Newt Gingrich.

The singular focus on Gingrich reveals an awareness that the former House speaker stands firmly between Paul and the Republican presidential nomination. Gingrich has surged past Mitt Romney and is now leading in most national polls of GOP voters. Paul has stayed steady for most of 2011 at around 8 percent, where he is tied for fourth place with Rick Perry.

The theatrics of the video read like a trailer for a thriller film. Ominous music accompanies video footage that has been converted to black-and-white and then augmented with a faint red hue.

The video opens with a clip of Gingrich assessing the core of the country's challenge as a question of policy, values and seriousness. It then attacks Gingrich on each point, interspersing video clips of news broadcasts and pundits detailing Gingrich's support for an individual mandate and action on global warming. It also reiterates the recent allegations that Gingrich lobbied for government-backed mortgage lenders after he left the House.

Paul's campaign did not reveal how much money it was spending to place the ad, but said it would purchase banner advertisements on conservative websites on a state and national level.

“Our campaign is making a bold move to debunk the myth that the Newt we are seeing on the 2012 campaign trail is the conservative he has been touted to be all along," said Jesse Benton, Paul's campaign chairman, adding that Paul was the only candidate with an authentic, consistent career as a conservative.

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