New DNC Web video offers critical preview of Romney CPAC address

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has released a new Web ad knocking Mitt Romney ahead of his highly anticipated speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday.

The address is expected to be a pivotal moment for the Republican front-runner, who is looking to win over conservative activists concerned about his campaign after a trio of losses earlier this week in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado.

The spot opens with a boilerplate contrast of Romney's shifting positions on issues like abortion rights, immigration and his support for former President Reagan. The DNC has hammered the former governor for his perceived flip-flops throughout the campaign.

Onscreen text then argues that Republicans are "still not buying it," cutting to news footage covering Rick Santorum's surprise wins Tuesday night.

From there, the ad pivots to CPAC, an annual convention of conservative activists and politicians.

"So what's he going to say to win over this crowd?" the ad continues, before rolling a montage of moments from earlier iterations of the conference. Clips include Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) saying the president "ushered in socialism," Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) calling for the abolishment of the Department of Education and for individuals to be able to opt out of Social Security, and radio host Rush Limbaugh telling the crowd he wanted to see the president fail. The CPAC crowd is also shown cheering enthusiastically at many of the moments.

"Mitt Romney: What will he say today?" the ad concludes.

"The bottom line is that Mitt Romney keeps going further to appeal to the most extreme, far-right-wing conservatives in the country ... the Donald Trumps, Ann Coulters and Michele Bachmanns of the world," the DNC said in a statement.

The ad is the latest in a stream of Web videos from Democrats hitting Romney after his tough losses. On Thursday, the DNC issued a Web video challenging Romney's attacks on Republican challengers Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum — whom Romney painted as Washington insiders — by pointing out that Romney was spending the day campaigning with industry lobbyists in the nation's capital.

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