Video: Iowa Dems Hunting Romney, and Romney Alone

Multiple times a week for weeks now, the Iowa Demcratic Party has been hammering GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney with harsh statements.

Here's a sampling of their news releases in November: "Mitt Romney is a Serial Deceiver." "Mitt Romney's idea of connecting with the middle class is to wear a plaid shirt and some Tommy Bahama jeans." "... Mitt Romney’s lack of consistency and core convictions."

Not for Newt Gingrich. Not Herman Cain. Not Michele Bachmann. Just Romney.

The tone nationally is similar. The Democratic National Committee recently unveiled it's latest effort, a commercial called Mitt vs. Mitt: The Story of Two Men Trapped in One Body," which portrays Romney as a flip-flopper.

Watch the video to the right.

Romney is the front-runner in many polls, but he has far from secured the nomination. Some campaign observers describe the tactic as a sign that Democrats see Romney as the biggest threat to President Obama, and they want to kill his candidacy or at least weaken him leading up to the general election in November.

"They are putting it out there to stir up the field. They would like to see Republicans, Conservatives Christians not give Romney the green light, stretch out the process and find someone who can catch fire and who will be easier to run against," said Steffen Schmidt, a professor at Iowa State University. "Obama doesn't want to run against Romney."

In Schmidt's opinion, Romney has experience running a state, he is honed, he can appeal to independents and could be an effective debater against Obama.

Tim Hagle, a political science professor at University of Iowa, said parties go after the opposite party's candidate they most fear.

"They attack the person they think may be stronger," Hagle said. "They say they are just trying to inform voters, and the party may be willing to attack all of them, but if they are focusing mainly on Romney that is the candidate they are most concerned about."

In the meantime, other GOP candidates keep their hands clean, Hagle and Schmidt said. Whether the approach will work or not remains to be seen. Schmidt said he thinks Gingrich is most likely to reap the rewards from any damage the attacks do to Romney, while Hagle said it wouldn't necessarily benefit one candidate.

For their part, Iowa Democrats say they aren't just picking on Romney. A review since January 2011 shows they "have been listening carefully and asking tough questions on every one of the Republican candidates," Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky told Patch in an email.

"It is part of our responsibility in our role as First in the Nation," Dvorsky said. "I don’t know who will be the eventual Republican nominee. What I do know is that when Gov. Romney is purposefully and repeatedly distorting the President’s record and words, we will set the record straight.  The other Republican candidates are doing their best to weaken Romney. We don’t need to, but we won’t sit silently when he twists the truth."