Rove-backed group spends to bolster 19 targeted Republicans

An outside conservative group sought on Thursday to bolster Republicans being targeted by Democrats in 19 districts.

Crossroads GPS, a 501(c)(4) group associated with GOP heavyweights Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, is spending $90,000 on radio ads in 19 districts where the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) launched ads this week.

The group launched the ads to hit back against the DCCC ads, which accused the Republicans, many of whom are freshmen from swing districts, of wanting to slash spending for education and research and investment.

"Today we launched issue ads to frame the debate and set the record straight: Nancy Pelosi’s big spending bailout agenda put the country trillions into debt — and these new members of Congress are working to clean up the mess," Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio said in an e-mail announcing the ad buy.

For Crossroads GPS — which is affiliated with the group American Crossroads — the ad buy suggests they have no intention of backing off the active role it played in the 2010 elections, when it spent nearly $40 million against Democrats and for Republicans.

Their active role earned them the enmity of the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress, who had raised concerns that groups like Crossroads GPS or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, absent disclosure requirements, could be accepting corporate donations or foreign funding to boost their electioneering against Democrats. Crossroads and the Chamber vehemently denied those allegations.

Groups like Crossroads GPS have paved the way for even more spending in the 2012 presidential election, since a Supreme Court decision last year lifted limits on corporate and labor spending in elections. Already, prominent liberals led by David Brock are working on crafting a new group to serve as a counterweight to groups like Crossroads in 2012.