New Tea Party Ad Campaign Hits Shuster From the Right

A tea party group has launched an attack on Republican Rep. Bill Shuster, accusing him of helping to triple the national debt three times and attacking him as a second generation "career politician" whose time has come to leave office.

Laying the groundwork for a primary challenge to the powerful Republican who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the Madison Project PAC debuted 60-second ads on Wednesday that it plans to run against Shuster on radio stations in his Pennsylvania district that air Rush Limbaugh's talk show, Politico reports.

The PAC supports Coast Guard retiree Art Halvorson, who plans to challenge Shuster's re-election bid. Halvorson says he hopes to take over the district in the Keystone State's southwest Shuster has held since succeeding his father Bud in 2001.

The ad buy is just the latest attack on Shuster from the Madison Project. Last month the group's Drew Ryun said Pennsylvania Republicans "deserve better than the tax-and-spend brand of Republicanism that has represented them in the form of the Shuster dynasty since 1972," the year Bud Shuster won his first Congressional election.

The PAC plans to focus on Shuster's support for more spending for projects under his panel's jurisdiction and his votes for the old Cash for Clunkers program, the TARP financial bailouts, and credit card regulations.