The national spotlight on the race for PA-12 got brighter today after Keith Rothfus, who’s challenging incumbent Rep. Mark Critz, (D-Cambria) accepted a speaking role at the Republican National Convention in Tampa next Monday.

As a vocal opponent of Obamacare, Rothfus plans to speak on his personal struggle with cancer and the importance of preserving the close relationship between doctors and patients that he said would be lost under President Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement.

“I am honored and humbled to accept the invitation to speak on behalf of the citizens from Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District on the importance of defending our doctors, patients and seniors from the threat of Obamacare,” Rothfus said.

“As a cancer survivor, there is no subject more personal to me than our nation’s health. As a son with parents on Medicare, there is nothing more troubling to me than the $700 billion stolen from Medicare to pay for Obamacare.”

Critz’s Spokesperson Mike Mikus said Rothfus’s support of VP nominee Paul Ryan’s budget plans shows he’s not the champion of Medicare he claims to be.

“It is not surprising that Keith Rothfus will be in Tampa defending the Rothfus/Ryan Budget that ends Medicare by turning it into a voucher program and costs senior citizens and additional $6,400 for health care – all so he can pay for more tax cuts for the wealthy,” Mikus said in an email.

The Rothfus campaign’s latest announcement is certainly a boost for a campaign that’s already received a good deal of outside attention funding that will likely continue until the election.

Because of PA-12’s high number of Medicare recipients, Republicans believe it’s an area that the national debate over Medicare can be localized.

And it’s a debate Rothfus believes he and the Republicans will win.

“[Critz] endorsed Obamacare, and Obamacare ends Medicare as we know it,” Rothfus said earlier this week.

“It raids Medicare to the tune of $700 billion to pay for a whole new government program, it doesn’t save Medicare and then they put the Independent Payment Advisory Board in place-15 unelected bureaucrats who are gonna ration care to our seniors.”

Neither parties’ offensives over Medicare are completely accurate. Democrats’ assertion that Medicare costs will skyrocket by $6,400 are based on an outdated version of the Ryan budget. Republicans claim that Obamacare guts Medicare with $700 billion in cuts fails to mention that the cuts will be imposed over 10 years, and are limits to the program’s growth and not direct and immediate benefit slashing.

The Critz camp announced in June that the Democratic Rep. will not be attending the DNC this year, choosing instead to focus on campaigning. This is due to the President’s low polling numbers in the region and their disagreement over key issues.