Google "Democratic National Committee attacks Ron Paul" and the results are slim.

While the former Texas congressman ran for president three times, he rarely attracted sustained fire from the opposing party. He was mostly seen as a gadfly, a marginal candidate without a real chance at electoral success.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is figuring out quickly this week he's not his father.

During a three-day swing in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa, Democrats have taken multiple shots at the freshman senator eyeing the presidency.

The Democratic National Committee whacked Paul for being a "Steve King Republican," linking him to Iowa's controversial, highly conservative congressman who believes Democrats should consider impeaching President Barack Obama. They leapt on him for changing his position on ending foreign aid to Israel. A day later they piled on further, blasting out news clips of his change of position "on an issue of national importance."

[READ: Tracking Trips to Iowa and New Hampshire by Presidential Candidates]

But what really animated Democrats was the video clip of Paul bolting away from a woman who confronted King about his stance on immigration.

The DNC snidely dubbed Paul's exit from a lunch table a "Profile In Courage."

Never mind that it was an astute move. Getting caught up in a video exchange between King and a pro-immigration advocate could have been disastrous for Paul. The clip continued to air on the cable networks Wednesday morning. Paul escaped being the feature part of the story.

But that wasn't all. Democrats continued to dump on Paul's Iowa parade by pushing around a clip of GOP strategist Hogan Gidley on MSNBC. Gidley blasted Paul as "clumsy and clunky" on the campaign trail in regards to his Israel remarks. (Paul said he hadn't previously called to end foreign aid to Israel when he, in fact, had.) Gidley said his dour assessment was based on conversations with "several people on the ground."

Nevermind that Gidley was the communications director for 2012 caucus victor Rick Santorum and had previously worked for 2008 caucus winner Mike Huckabee. Nevermind the likely potential that Gidley would work for Santorum or Huckabee again in a hypothetical 2016 campaign.

[ALSO: Rand Paul Is The White House's Most Intriguing 2016 Candidate]

Nonetheless, the lead sentence in the Des Moines Register's Wednesday morning account read, "Rand Paul had to clean up a few messes on Day 2 of his do-I-really-want-to-run-for-president tour in Iowa."

Republicans are used to locking horns with the Pauls – Remember that no-holds-barred exchange Rudy Giuliani had with Ron Paul in a 2008 debate over the ramifications of an interventionist foreign policy?

What's different now is the intensity that Democrats are bringing to the pile-on of Rand Paul.

They're treating him like a contender, a force to be reckoned with, maybe even a front-runner.



