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Rove-linked group already spending big on ads
Crossroads GPS, an outside conservative group linked to Karl Rove, is in the midst of a $20 million "advertizing blitz" targeting President Obama and other Democrats. The group is incorporated in a way that allows it to keep its donors secret.
Crossroads' latest effort, "Thread," suggests that the American economy is on the verge of literally crushing a large group of children, including one blue-eyed young girl who stares mournfully at the camera.
"America's economy is hanging - by a thread," says a female narrator, ominous images and music. "We are nearing a breaking point." At that point, the spot shows a platform holding up physical manifestations of the government's debt and other obligations - directly above a group of children. The rope frays.
"Maybe we won't be crushed when our economy snaps, but someone will," the narrator says, as viewers see a close-up of the (seemingly doomed) little girl. "It's time to take away President Obama's blank check."
Crossroads GPS is reportedly spending $3.5 million to run the ad on national cable and in six states: Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia.
Just yesterday, Crossroads launched a $1.6 million set of ads targeting five swing-state Democratic senators: Bill Nelson of Florida, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Sherrod Brown of Ohio. A typical such spot is at left. Crossroads also recently spent $158,000 to air a Spanish-language ad in presidential battleground states attacking President Obama on the economy.It's all part of Crossroads GPS' $20 million effort - spent over just two months - to "frame the national debate on jobs, the economy and the national debt in anticipation of congressional action on these issues."
CBSNews.com special report: Election 2012
Liberal outside groups and the Democratic National Committee have tried to counter the spots, though they are spending much less to do so. The DNC launched its first ad of the 2012 cycle last night, and, interestingly, it was also in Spanish - and featured a direct response to the Crossroads GPS Spanish-language ad. The Democrat-linked Priorities USA Action, which also does not disclose donors, announced in June a $750,000 buy to counter some of the impact of the Crossroads GPS ads.
Crossroads GPS and its sister organization American Crossroads are expected to spend more than $100 million on ads in this campaign cycle, and they are just one of the outside groups planning to spend big. The group is incorporated in such a way that it must spend at least half its advertizing budget on a social welfare purpose; it says all the ads it is running as part of this initial $20 million push qualify as social welfare spots.
Crossroads GPS' Jonathan Collegio said social welfare - not trying to win elections - is "what we do."
"Looking back at the 1990 budget deal, it is clear that had center right groups been as engaged as Crossroads is now, the country might have averted a massive tax increase," he told Hotsheet. "This is a once-a-decade opportunity to shape fiscal policy in a conservative direction - in a sense, the moment Crossraods GPS was created for."
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Brian Montopoli Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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