Rep. Tim Walz is being targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee with a television ad critical of his vote for health care reform. The move comes after a series of robocalls by the NRCC. Walz is in his third term in Minnesota’s First Congressional District and has only one announced challenger, Randy Demmer. Demmer lost to Walz in 2010.

“There’s a cloud over our economy,” the narrator says over the backdrop of a thunderstorm. “Tim Walz’s government takeover of health care. Fear and uncertainty prevent new hiring. Steep fines and new taxes on families and businesses. Half a trillion dollars – money they can’t use to create jobs. Experts say Obama-Schrader will push employers to drop workers’ health insurance. With Walz and Obama…the storm will only get worse.”

According to Roll Call, the ad buy will be $10,000 over three weeks starting Tuesday on cable TV.

Last week, the NRCC hit Walz with robo calls, blaming Walz for the nation’s credit downgrade:

“Tim Walz and his fellow Democrats’ addiction to big government spending has led to a downgrade of America’s credit rating and a dramatic loss in the global markets that could force you to pay more for everyday expenses. While Tim Walz keeps standing in the way of real fiscal reform, middle-class families in Minnesota could now see a loss in retirement savings while mortgage rates, car payments and student loans could become even more expensive.”

Walz has been viewed as vulnerable by Republican since he won the seat in an upset against Republican Gil Gutknecht in 2006. He beat Gutknecht by 6 percent that year, by 30 percent against Brian Davis in 2008 and by 5 percent against Demmer in 2008.

Demmer registered his 2012 campaign against Walz in Febraury and the campaign has a debt of $93,000. Walz had $400,000 on hand at the end of June.

After naming him in the question posed in a poll earlier this month, Survey USA oddly dropped a direct reference to Dillon when it polled 642 likely voters Oct. 26–27. (The pollster hasn’t yet responded to MnIndy’s request to explain why references to third party support have been inconsistent in its three surveys of the 3rd District.) If you get an anti-Dillon mailing, please share it with MnIndy.

UPDATE: Joe Bodell at Minnesota Campaign Report has this high-contrast scan of the mailer and speculates writes that it’s being sent to Democrats. His theory goes that the NRCC might be using reverse psychology (if “reverse” is quite the right term in a three-way race) to draw Dems to Dillon by chargin him with being too far left politically.

This comes after state Republican officials held press conferences last month to highlight demographic differences between Indian-American Madia and residents of the 3rd Congressional District — in contrast to their own candidate, state Rep. Erik Paulsen, who is “one of them.” Video and more after the jump.
Here’s the KARE-TV news report:

Last spring during the Democratic primary battle, a television ad attacking U.S. Sen. Barack Obama employed a similar visual device that made Obama’s skin appear darker. The technique, which puts a dark halo around the perimeter of an image, while simultaneously darkening a face within the image, was put to use most famously in Time magazine’s cover on O.J. Simpson.

Vet Voice, a project of VoteVets.org, which has endorsed former Marine Madia, traces the ad’s lineage back to the “Willie Horton” ad Pres. George Bush used against Gov. Michael Dukakis in the 1998 presidential race.