Crossroads launches over $10 million in ads targeting races at every level

By Alexandra Jaffe - 09/18/12 09:55 AM ET

Conservative super-PAC American Crossroads and its nonprofit arm, Crossroads GPS, are launching over $10 million in ads targeting the president in eight swing states and five candidates for the Senate and House nationwide.

The Crossroads GPS ad launched in New York's 1st congressional district race is the first from the nonprofit in a House race. It highlights Rep. Tim Bishop's (D) possible request for campaign donations in exchange for official assistance to a constituent, an issue first reported by Politico that has since become a campaign issue in the district.

Though challenger Randy Altschuler is running behind Bishop, according to the latest poll of the area, Republicans hope the situation will lend an aura of misconduct to the congressman, who faces a tough battle for reelection.

Crossroads GPS also launched ads against Senate candidates Jon Tester in Montana, Shelley Berkley in Nevada, Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin and Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, with all five ads amounting to a total $2.5 million buy.

The ad running against Berkley in Nevada highlights previous ethics investigations into her potential use of her congressional power to benefit a company linked to her husband. The spot characterizes her policies, particularly on Medicare, as "even worse" than the activity that prompted the investigation, and "shameful."

In Wisconsin, the Crossroads GPS ad features Baldwin telling listeners in a raised voice, "You're damn right we're making a difference."

"Tired of all the shouting?" a voiceover asks, and then argues that she's "just out of touch with Wisconsin," and highlights her positions in favor of healthcare reform and what the ad characterizes as higher taxes on the middle class.

Tester is targeted by the group for having "gone Washington" during his first term in office, supporting Obama 95 percent of the time, and the ad says he's "taken more money from lobbyists than any other senator this year." Heitkamp is also characterized as a candidate in lockstep with President Obama — attacks that Republicans have used on both candidates previously, as they believe painting the two as hard-line liberals running in more centrist to lean-conservative states could be a winning strategy.

The super-PAC American Crossroads launched a buy totaling $8.3 million in eight states: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia. Those are generally still agreed to be states in which the presidential race remains contentious.

The ad highlights small-business owners Sherry Wuebben and Bill Schams, who both say Obama's first term in office has hurt their business.

"He treats us like we are his enemy," Schams says of Obama.

"Obama definitely is making things harder for us," he goes on.

The new spot comes as Mitt Romney tries to pivot back to a focus on the economy after a week of veering off-course on national security. But a recent poll from the George Washington University School of Political Management and Thumbtacks.com gives Obama an 8-percentage-point lead over Romney with small-business owners, indicating Romney might still have some work to do in convincing that subset of the population to support him.