(Image Source: Muppet Wiki)

BY ALYSSA CARTEE

ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

With the Iowa caucus a few days away, GOP candidates are getting in their last few political attacks. For example, front-runner Mitt Romney is taking aim at... Big Bird?

Romney explained his ideas about cutting government spending at a meeting with supporters.

“We subsidize PBS.  Look I’m going to stop that. I’m gonna say PBS is going to have to have advertisements. We’re not going to kill Big Bird but Big Bird’s going to have advertisements, alright?”

A Republican strategist told MSNBC she thinks it was the right move for Romney to keep climbing the polls in Iowa.

“I think that Mitt Romney probably explained it very well.  He says we don’t want to kill off Big Bird so he doesn’t sound like an extremist but he’s talking in very realistic terms about what we have to start thinking about doing. So again, he doesn’t sound crazy like Ron Paul but he’s talking about let’s start shrinking the government a little bit.”

But, Entertainment Weekly says the classic children’s show would lose its charm if Elmo had to introduce a commercial break.

“It would be a shame — part of the appeal of Sesame Street is that it seems lost in time. Sure, we might see contemporary celebrities making guest appearances on the series, but we’ve never been forced to watch Mr. Snuffleupagus drink from Coke glasses or Bert gift Ernie a Nissan Rogue. For over 40 years, Sesame Street has simply remained one of the best learning tools for children on any medium.”

Romney isn’t the first to take aim at PBS.  The Hill points out public broadcasting is frequently a target of Republicans.

“Funding for public broadcasting, including the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and NPR, has been a target of the Republican fiscal agenda. A bill passed the House in March to defund NPR with many Republicans accusing the broadcaster of a liberal bias; a separate proposal was introduced in the Senate to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which includes PBS and NPR.”

MediaSpy counters by saying while the cuts follow smaller government ideology, cutting from PBS wouldn’t make a huge impact.

“...even a full cut of funding to PBS would only make a 0.003 per cent reduction in the country's deficit.”

Whether or not you agree with slapping an ad on Sesame Street, Romney’s strategies are working.  Politico reports a shift in the polls.

“Romney gets 25 percent of the vote in Iowa, per the new poll. Ron Paul comes in second at 22 percent … Compared with results from early December … Gingrich came in first in Iowa with 33 percent, followed by Romney at 20 percent and Paul at 17 percent.”

The Iowa Caucus is fast approaching -- held on January 3, with the New Hampshire Primary following on January 10th.