Campaign ads

Crossroads GPS, the nonprofit arm of GOP strategist Karl Rove's American Crossroads, unveiled a video Tuesday blasting President Obama's second inauguration speech as revealing his "liberal" agenda.

The ad features clips of reporters and pundits, whom Crossroads GPS dubs the "mainstream media," describing Obama's speech as a liberal rallying cry. In the clips, the address is described as "the most liberal speech Barack Obama has ever given," "much more radical than the speech he gave four years ago," and as "laying out his real agenda."

"If the media is calling Obama's policies liberal, what can we expect in the next four years?" the video asks at the end.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is releasing a video highlighting Republican dissension throughout the "fiscal cliff" and Hurricane Sandy aid bills in advance of the GOP's annual retreat, asking if House Republicans can come together this weekend.

"House Republicans are coming together today for a retreat in Williamsburg," the video opens, over audio of the song "Kumbaya."

"But can they actually come together?" it asks.

Unions are attacking Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a new national television ad that likens him to the penny-pinching Mr. Potter of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

In a clip that pays homage to the Christmas favorite, the ads say Boehner’s plan to stop the tax increases and budget cuts of the “fiscal cliff” would sacrifice entitlement programs while protecting the wealthy. 

“Welcome to Boehnerville — where the rich won’t pay their fair share; our children’s educations will be cut; Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will be put at risk; and the economic recovery would falter,” the ad says before encouraging people to contact Congress.

Two progressive outside spending groups are pushing the House GOP to pass an extended version of the Violence Against Women Act that's currently stalled in Congress with a new, graphic television ad calling for viewers to demand action.

A coalition of unions is launching a new round of television ads on Friday pressuring centrist lawmakers to oppose entitlement cuts in a “fiscal cliff” deal. 

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the National Education Association (NEA) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are sponsoring television ads that ask lawmakers not to cut Medicare and Medicaid benefits. 

The television ads are a six-figure buy and will run for about a week starting Friday. They will target Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Reps. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) and Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio). Warner is up for reelection in 2014.

A new ad from Crossroads GPS accuses President Obama of pushing for tax increases without "real" spending cuts as part of the administration's plan to reduce the deficit. 

The presidential campaigns and outside groups supporting them spent a monumental $588 million on ads focusing on jobs, in an election cycle that often strayed from what both sides seemed to agree were the central issues at hand: jobs and the economy.

According to a report from Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group, Republicans outspent Democrats on presidential election ads with a job focus by nearly $150 million. The GOP also hammered the job message in the Senate races in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, outspending Democrats by at least $1 million in Indiana and by 4 to 1 in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Despite the millions more spent by Republicans, their candidates lost in every one of those races.

The GOP outside group American Crossroads is launching a $4.5-million national television buy against President Obama, a sign that the group is flush with cash in the closing days of the race.

Former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) is out with his final ad of the campaign, ripping former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) on coal and his support for climate change legislation.

The American Future Fund, a Republican outside group, is launching a $5 million ad blitz for the closing days of the campaign that includes $3.6 million for Michigan and Pennsylvania, two states that have not been the main focus of the presidential campaigns.

The group will spend $1.9 million in Michigan and $1.7 million in Pennsylvania, as well as $460,000 in Ohio and $900,000 on radio ads for a number of states.