Ron Paul debuted a new Iowa TV spot today and, yes, it does attack frontrunner Rick Perry for his ties to Al Gore. But perhaps more interesting than the attack angle is how Paul frames his own candidacy in light of Ronald Reagan. Name-dropping the Republican icon is a tried and true GOP tactic, but Paul's deep-voiced narrator begins the ad by explaining the Reagan's presidential bid this way: "The establishment called him extreme and unelectable." Which is, of course, one of the more popular charges levied at Ron Paul. Portraying the aging libertarian firebrand as a sort of--as Matt Yglesias put it--"heir" to Reagan's small government vision seems smart. And, yes, that grinning young man to the right in the picture above is Ron Paul way back when.

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Erik Hayden