American Crossroads - buying votes across America

By Richard K. Barry


In another news item to warm your heart, Crossroads GPS is, according to the National Journal, about to launch a $1.2 million ad campaign against five Democratic Senate candidates on Tuesday.

The Wiki entry on this, describes the group as follows:

Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation that works in conjunction with American Crossroads. As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Crossroads GPS's primary purpose is the advancement of social welfare including public policy advocacy, although it is permitted to engage in political spending as well. Crossroads GPS is required to report what it spends, but it is not required to publicly disclose any donor information.

You need a lawyer just to make sense of any of it.

All you really need to know is that Karl Rove is an adviser to the group and this:

Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's January 2010 Citizen's United decision, groups like American Crossroads can legally advocate for or against political candidates without restrictions on the amount of money they can raise from individuals and corporations.

About the campaign, the National Journal story states:

The ads are targeted against Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., former Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, and former North Dakota Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp.

Including this buy, the group's non-profit arm has spent $8.3 million on issue ads against Senate Democratic candidates so far this cycle, dating back to the summer of 2011. This is the sixth multi-state Senate buy that Crossroads GPS has launched; they've also hit individual senators, like McCaskill, in separate spots over the last year.

And the best news is that:

Both American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS are cash-flush heading into the 2012 elections, and are preparing to spend significant money in key battleground states, having raised over $100 million so far this election cycle.

No great surprise, but the ads will attack these Democrats on their record of "spending and taxes." Can't wait to see what kinds of lies Rove and his cronies will roll out.


(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)