The Iowa Caucuses are tonight and the pre-caucus ads are anywhere from amazingly positive to scare the shit out of you “you’d better vote for me to save your life” negative.

In his new ad, Mitt Romney claims that “In the next ten years, we’ll see more progress, more change than the world has seen in the last ten centuries.” Now I’m a fan or innovation, but as Slate so astutely called out

You read that correctly. The next ten years will run roughshod over the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the formation of American democracy, the printing press, interchangeable parts, division of labor, the end of slavery, nuclear technology, antiseptics, the theory of gravity, the theory of relativity, the rise of communism, two world wars, universal suffrage, landing on the moon, and the Internet.

Then there’s the gloom and doom style, first started by Johnson’s historic “Daisy” ad. But while Thompson’s words and warnings to Iowans are foreboding, the over the top visuals in Giuliani’s new ad seem the most reminiscent of the “end of the world” Johnsoneque scare tactic. Check out Daily Kos for more grandiosity and hyperbole, or just follow the caucuses tonight.