Rove-backed group goes on the attack against Reid in Nevada

A Republican campaign group founded by political guru Karl Rove went on the attack on Tuesday against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

American Crossroads, the 527 group founded by Rove and former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Ed Gillespie, released a new TV ad in Nevada targeting Reid on a gaffe and his record on job creation.

"Harry Reid says, ‘No one can do more’ than he can. Really, Harry?" the ad asks, pointing to a Reid gaffe in which the top Senate Democrats praised a monthly job loss, which was relatively lower than previous months.

The ad is going up statewide in Nevada with an initial $120,000 buy. It makes no mention of Sharron Angle, the Republican candidate against Reid.

The attack on Reid is part of a concerted effort by American Crossroads, which organized to aid GOP candidates' efforts to unseat Democrats like Reid this fall, to affect races nationwide. 

Reid's campaign, for its part, notes that a Reno newspaper has done fact checks on Reid's record on jobs and shown that Nevada's job losses are hardly the fault of the veteran senator.

Complicating the group's efforts was a report with the IRS in May showing that it had only raised $200 in May. The president of the group, however, told the Associated Press last week that they had secured $30 million in pledges to support the group, more than halfway toward its goal of raising $52 million this fall.

Reid has been among the most sought-after Democrats by Republicans this year, and has shown new signs of life in the polls after trailing several GOP candidates badly earlier this year. The majority leader also has a massive campaign warchest he'll use to hold on to his seat, meaning that the assistance by groups like American Crossroads could be crucial in pushing Angle to victory.

"Unfortunately, Senator Reid’s record of taxpayer-funded bailouts, government takeovers and spiraling debt has not helped the hundreds of thousands of Nevadans who are out of work or losing their homes,” said Mike Duncan, chairman of the board of American Crossroads and himself a former chairman of the RNC. “Nevada and the rest of the country deserve something better than Reid’s tired Washington formula of taxpayer-financed pork and attack politics.”

Watch the new ad below:

Updated 12:08 p.m.