Outside groups are mounting a final offensive to put Mitt Romney over the edge, dumping tens of millions of dollars into advertising in battleground states.
Restore Our Future, a super PAC created during the primaries to support Romney’s campaign, is spending $20 million on a new ad entitled “Flatline” that will run through election day on national TV and in nine states: Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The super PAC announced a separate ad buy in Pennsylvania earlier this week, prompting the Obama campaign to respond with ads of their own. Like Pennsylvania, Maine and Michigan are considered longshots for Romney but with the most competitive states — like Ohio, Florida, and Virginia — already deluged in advertising from both sides, outside groups seem willing to test the waters elsewhere.
In addition to Restore Our Future, Karl Rove’s twin big money groups, American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, are making a late push as well. They’re spending $28 million on combined Senate and presidential ads, including the one below:
The Crossroads Senate buys include Indiana, where Democrats are running hard on Republican Richard Mourdock’s comments about rape, conception and God’s will.
Because candidates receive discounts on ad buys that outside groups do not, Obama has managed to remain competitive or even outmatch his opponent in total ads on the air even while sometimes being outspent. Priorities USA, the top super PAC supporting Obama’s re-election, has not announced its final ad buy totals but is already rerunning one of its most memorable anti-Romney ads, “Stage,” in Ohio.
