The group’s effort comes amid an anti-Biden assault by President Donald Trump in Iowa and other early states, as well as declining poll numbers for Biden in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Three recent polls, including one from Quinnipac on Wednesday , showed Biden in fourth place in Iowa, leapfrogged by an ascendant Pete Buttigieg and also led by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

The Biden super PAC hopes to launch TV ads in the next several weeks, and digital ads could come sooner — once Google, Facebook and Twitter approve the new committee. That effort is separate from a $4 million digital and TV buy Biden’s campaign recently announced in Iowa.

Rasky said the super PAC’s messaging will not “punch down” an does not plan to attack Biden’s primary opponents, instead starting by tracking Iowans’ views of Biden today and determining the extent of the damage caused by Trump’s anti-Biden ads. Trump has aired nearly $500,000 worth of ads in Iowa alone, some of which directly target Biden on his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine.

“That is much of the impetus behind the super PAC than anything,” Rasky said. “That’s going to continue and we have to push back on that. If I dump a million dollars on your head — it’s going to hurt.”

“It’ll become obvious that Joe Biden is the only Democrat in the field that has those cards to play,” Rasky said. “I don’t think you punch down in this context, that’s not what we’re there to do.”

Dick Harpootlian, the former state party chair in South Carolina who is helping steer Biden’s efforts in the state, was among the first to write a check. Harpootlian said the PAC is already seeing “significant commitments.”

“There’s going to be plenty of money,” he said.

With Warren consistently gaining ground in Iowa, Harpootlian said he’d hope focus groups in the first caucus state test “thematic approaches,” including gauging potential caucusgoers’ support for “Medicare for All” and what it is that they like about Warren.

“It’s blocking and tackling in politics,” Harpootlian said.

The super PAC has stepped in since Biden reported a middling third-quarter fundraising total of $15.7 million. The three other leaders in the field swamped that figure, including Warren, who reported $25.7 million. And as Biden’s fundraising lagged, Trump has opened a new front against him, ramping up attack ads against the former vice president.

Marc Caputo contributed to this report.