“The party is doing stuff that is too hot for candidates,” says Evan Tracey, who tracks television advertising as president of the nonpartisan Campaign Media Analysis Group. “You see ad after ad going at them right between the eyes. It’s personal, it’s cutting. It’s ‘here’s what we found in the oppo dump and we’re going to put it in the worst light possible.’”

The allegations, often based on selective use of facts, are fair game. But they also represent the kind of scorched-earth tactics that strategists employ when their clients are in danger of losing, and losing big. The party is spending heavily on these aerial attacks.

“We’ve always said this election has to be a contrast, that it cannot just be an up-or-down vote on Democrats,” says Eric Schultz, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “We believe what Republicans did before entering politics, or before 2012, should be part of the conversation.”