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Forget Jeb, Rand and Ted. For Democrats, its all about Charles and David.

The announcement this week that the vast political network backed by the wealthy industrialist Koch brothers aims to spend nearly $1 billion on the 2016 elections has reignited Democratic hopes of casting the brothers as electoral villains and linking them closely to Republican candidates.

Its a campaign strategy that yielded little success for the party in 2014, a banner year for the GOP. But Democratic officials and operatives say they are hopeful that their anti-Koch message will have more potency in a presidential election year.

Groups supporting potential Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as the House and Senate Democratic campaign arms, plan to single out the Kochs in their advertising and fundraising efforts.

I think the Koch brothers dumping a billion dollars on the elections is definitely something the American people are interested in learning about, said Rep. Ben Ray Lujn (N.M.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

He said the DCCC plans to mention the brothers in online fundraising efforts. The DCCC raised $70 million in the last election cycle.

David Brock, founder of the pro-Clinton American Bridge political action committee, said his group will be retooling a 2014 war-room operation called Real Koch Facts, which he acknowledged did not achieve big results. The project aims to educate potential voters about what Democrats say is the Kochs largely hidden agenda and to attempt to shame recipients of Koch money.

Said Peter Kauffmann, a spokesman for the pro-Clinton Priorities USA Action super PAC: Will Priorities USA Action talk about the Koch brothers attempt at a hostile takeover of the government of the United States? Stay tuned.

But former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who ran for president in 2012, compared Democratic attacks against the Kochs to failed GOP efforts to tar Democrats for receiving support from organized labor.

The fact is we never got anywhere trying to explain to the country all of the extra advantage they got, for example, from labor unions, Gingrich said. Its too indirect an argument.

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Democrats see new chance to attack Kochs after $1 billion spending announcement