Ron Paul is expanding his ad buy in Iowa in hopes of making a late surge in the volatile first-in-the-nation nominating contest, going up on air Tuesday with a shortened version of an attack ad released last week critical of Newt Gingrich.
Paul is airing another ad there that derides his Republican opponents for the presidential nomination as "little shih tzus" and plays up his plan to eliminate fives Cabinet agencies.
The latest video uses Gingrich's words to criticize his ties to troubled mortgage lender Freddie Mac and previously stated support for an individual mandate to purchase health insurance.
“We wanted to ensure this ad reached as many voters as possible, 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 Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton in a statement.
The libertarian Texas congressman is hoping that his passionate base and strong organization will propel him to victory in Iowa, where Gingrich has not spent the time or resources to establish an effective ground game and Romney has never been able to gain traction.
“The voters are looking for authentic conservatives who are able to show a decades-long career of consistently walking the walk of Constitutional principles, limited government, and promoting sound economic policies," Benton said. "Ron Paul is the only Republican presidential candidate with that record.”
Paul placed second in a PPP poll of the state released earlier this week, trailing Gingrich by 9 points but leading Romney.
