Dem website targets 'BP Republicans'

Democrats launched a new website on Friday targeting "BP Republicans" meant to highlight different GOP lawmakers' defenses of the oil company.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) seized on Nevada Republican candidate for Senate Sharron Angle's criticism of a $20 billion fund BP created to pay damages to victims of the oil spill, and sought to tie other GOP lawmakers to BP.

The DNC set up a new site, BPRepublicans.com, which casts GOP lawmakers as representing the interests of the oil company, and not their constituents, in Washington.

The first image on the site targets Angle, who called the $20 billion account a "slush fund" on Wednesday. She backed off the comment the next day.

The site builds on political momentum Democrats saw after Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) expressed similar sentiments about the fund during a hearing last month where BP CEO Tony Hayward was testifying.

"It's more than Barton redux, it proves that an expression of empathy toward BP is not an isolated misstatement by a wayward Republican," said a DNC official, pointing also to Republicans' opposition to raising the liability cap for oil companies that cause accidents, or the GOP's opposition to an energy and climate bill.

But the site is just as much about taking issue at Angle as it is anyone.

"If Sharron Angle's going to fight for BP and be their candidate, we thought we'd make it official. Besides, we understand that Sharron Angle is a fan of having more than one campaign website," said the DNC official. "Since she took down the one with her true positions, we thought the voters of Nevada would be interested to know who she's really fighting for."

Angle is the Republican candidate this fall against Harry Reid, who, as Senate majority leader, serves as the top Democrat in that chamber. Republicans have made a point of trying to defeat Reid this fall in what has become an especially heated race.

To that end, President Barack Obama was in Nevada on Thursday evening to help raise money for Reid.