The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced this morning that its first independent expenditure TV ad of the general election campaign will target Michigan Rep. Dan Benishek for his vote in favor of the Ryan budget. This is the first paid Democratic commercial going after Ryan's Medicare proposals since the Wisconsin congressman became Mitt Romney's running mate.

It features a clip of the first - term Republican praising plans for " privatizing Social Security and Medicare. " " Benishek’s voted to essentially end Medicare, forcing seniors to pay over $۶,۰۰۰ more a year, " the narrator says. " Congressman Benishek’s fishing in troubled waters. "

The Obama campaign hasn ' t yet put money behind its attacks on the Ryan budget and Mitt Romney ' s support for Ryan ' s ideas, but Democrats down ballot consider Ryan ' s new prominence a major boon as well. While Romney has already begun running ads defending his position on Medicare and attacking Obama ' s health care record, not every Republican on the ballot has moved that quickly.

UPDATE: NRCC spokeswoman Katie Prill responded to the ad by pointing back to the Medicare changes in the Affordable Care Act and comments Benishek's Democratic opponent has made about the cost of end-of-life care. "Northern Michigan seniors are terrified of Gary McDowell going to Congress and that is why they rejected him in 2010. His support of slashing over $700 billion from Medicare to pay for ObamaCare and his views that seniors' end of life care costs too much are just two examples of his radical agenda that Michigan seniors just can't afford," she said. The "slashing over $700 billion" line is the same one Romney's campaign has been using, and refers to a set of spending reductions that are also in the Ryan budget.