Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie are preparing to direct the full power of their American Crossroads Super PAC and direct it at President Obama. The founders of the $200 million Super PAC were not expected to go after President Obama until the GOP primary drew to an end, however insiders say they are preparing to attack sooner now that Mitt Romney has all but secured the GOP nomination.
American Crossroads will begin an anti-Obama campaign later this month with bigger ad buys arriving from May through July. The ads will come out at a time when Mitt Romney will need to work on building his own coffers. Essentially the ads are a “shield” that protect Romney from attacks he can’t afford to answer at a time when he needs to schmooze his millionaire friends. By directing negative attention towards Barack Obama it allows Romney to go about his business for a short period of time.
Rove’s Super PAC is a much needed part of the Romney campaign which currently only has $7.3 million and Romney’s team is nearly two months behind schedule when it comes to opening field offices in nearly a dozen key states.
It’s believed that the Crossroads PAC will attempt to shift focus away from wealth inequality, a hot topic among Democrats given Romney’s absolutely disgust for poor people and instead focus efforts on the White House’s economic policies which could be a tricky proposition given decreasing unemployment and a stock market that has rallied over the last several months to finish at all time highs.
In the meantime the head of American Crossroads has called the wealth talk a “dystopian vision,” while adding that ads are needed because “that narrative has some gravitational pull.”
