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“Given Paulsen and Kline’s potential statewide runs in 2014,” the group said in a statement, “the ad campaign focuses on political insiders and plugged-in constituents in their districts through an online and Twitter ad campaign modeled after the Obama campaign’s online targeting.”

Peterson: ‘Robo squirrels’

The sequester also has become fodder for a new Web ad aimed at Peterson, who represents the northwestern side of the state. The ad is part of a national GOP effort to target Democrats in Republican-leaning districts.

Although Peterson regularly wins elections by double digits on the strength of his deep involvement in farm policy, a recent National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) memo notes that his is one of five districts nationwide in which the GOP did better in the 2012 presidential election than it did in 2008.

Peterson has made no secret of his belief that the sequester, as ill-timed and ill-targeted as it may be, could present a unique opportunity to chip away meaningfully at the nation’s $16 trillion debt problem.

But NRCC spokeswoman Alleigh Marré, borrowing from the dire warnings of the Obama administration, accused Peterson of rejecting GOP alternatives “despite the devastating effect it will have on Minnesota families.”

In keeping with the political theater of the sequester debate, the Web ad against Peterson features a squirrel, symbolizing a project using “robo squirrels” to study the natural interaction of squirrels and rattlesnakes. The project has been used by the GOP as an example of wasteful government spending, though it’s never been the subject of a direct congressional vote.

Kevin Diaz • kdiaz@startribune.com