American Crossroads, a Karl Rove-backed conservative fundraising group, along with offshoot Crossroads GPS, is injecting close to $1 million in television advertising into U.S. Senate races in Colorado and Ohio, Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post reports.
Earlier this year, Rove asserted that Colorado will be "ground zero" for the 2010 midterm elections. So, it should come as no surprise that the fundraising operation conceptualized by the top Bush administration official and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie is set to take aim at Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in the Centennial State.
Fresh off a primary victory over challenger Andrew Romanoff last week, Bennet now faces Tea Party-backed contender Ken Buck in Colorado's Senate general election match-up.
With a $425,000 ad buy, Crossroads GPS, a 501(c)(4) organization, is poised to target the Democratic incumbent, who was appointed to his post by Gov. Bill Ritter last year.
"Since his appointment, Bennet has voted to spend $2.5 billion every single day," says a narrator in the thirty-second spot. "To pay for some of it Bennet voted twice in 35 days to increase the national debt."
In Ohio, 527 group American Crossroads is exerting its influence with a $500,000 ad buy to boost Republican Rob Portman's campaign to defeat Democrat Lee Fisher in the race for the state's open Senate seat.
Seeking to transmit a positive message, the spot from the Rove-backed group focuses on Portman's quest to create jobs, which entails a "listening then leading" strategy.
"Rob Portman is finding solutions," says a narrator. "Ideas from Ohioans in all 88 counties -- all part of Portaman's plan to create jobs."
Following its establishment earlier this year, American Crossroads got off to a slow start in ramping up its fundraising initiative; however, the political group -- which is exempt from limits on raking in and spending campaign cash -- has more recently found success in reaping big bucks.
A review of IRS filings by Salon last month found that the group was brining in millions of dollars, though 97 percent of it at the time had been contributed by four billionaires.
American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS have set a combined fundraising goal of $60 million it hopes to pour into midterm election races across the country this year.