American Crossroads, a conservative outside spending group, announced it’s starting a $20 million ad campaign to hammer President Obama’s economic policies.

{mosads}The group, which was co-founded by former Bush strategist Karl Rove, said Friday it would run ads over the next two months both nationally and locally in several states that will be key in the 2012 election.

Those states include: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada and Virginia.

The first ad buy, valued at $5 million, begins Monday and is called “Shovel Ready.”  It’s a critique of the 2009 stimulus and the president’s claim it would help the economy recover.

“President Obama may have inherited a recession, but his policies have made things worse for everyday Americans by running up the debt and causing economic uncertainty,” said Steven Law, president of the group. “Now Obama seems checked out of efforts to reduce America’s dangerous debt load, while his party is pushing massive tax increases and even more spending.”

At a breakfast with reporters Friday morning, chairman Mike Duncan predicted the group would spend $120 million in the 2012 cycle.