Dems train early gun on Heck

The U.S. House campaign arm of the Democratic Party has begun running ads against 19 targeted Republicans, including Rep. Joe Heck in suburban Las Vegas. Radio ads were to begin today and run through this week, when the House is in recess and most of its members are back in their districts.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting Dem-leaning districts represented by Republicans. “Our context is that this is a district that went to President Obama in 2008, so it is certainly a place we are interested in,” DCCC spokesman Jesse Ferguson said of Nevada’s Third Congressional District.

The ad running in Nevada seeks to link Heck to the most aggressive GOP budget-cutting proposal,  advanced by the conservative Republican Study Committee to roll back discretionary spending to 2006 levels.

Democrats say the proposal will “cut education and research by 40 percent” and “cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and make America less competitive.”

Democrats also are running Facebook ads and will be sending emails and making automated and live phone calls to Heck constituents, Ferguson said.

The Democrats’ focus on recapturing the Southern Nevada seat that Heck wrested from former Rep. Dina Titus is part of their strategy to regain possession of the U.S. House.