Crossroads GPS fires back at Obama with $25-million ad buy

By Matea Gold

May 16, 2012 12 AM PT

WASHINGTON -- The 2012 campaign air battle grew more intense Wednesday with the news that Crossroads GPS, the cash-flush conservative advocacy group, is pouring another $25 million into television ads castigating President Obama for “broken” promises.

The massive ad buy matches the $25 million that Obama’s reelection campaign announced last week it would be spending on a month of TV airtime.

The first new spot from Crossroads GPS begins airing Thursday in 10 presidential battleground states.

“President Obama’s agenda promised so much,” says a male narrator, as urgent music plays in the background.

The commercial charges Obama with, among other items, raising taxes through his health care reform plan and failing to meet his pledge to cut the deficit in half.

“We need solutions and not just promises,” the ad intones.

The Democratic National Committee called the ad “deceptive,” noting that Obama has cut taxes while in office and that he inherited a massive deficit from President Bush.

Crossroads GPS -- along with its sister “super PAC,” American Crossroads – is the biggest among a network of conservative groups that have led the charge against Obama on the airwaves. Together, the two Crossroads groups aim to spend $300 million for the 2012 campaign.

Last month, the two groups announced they had raised a combined $99.8 million for the election cycle so far. Of that total, about $71 million was raised by Crossroads GPS, which as a 501(c)4 social welfare organization does not have to disclose its donors.

The anonymity is offers has helped the organization attract massive sums: in 2010 and 2011, Crossroads received two single donations of $10 million.

As a tax-exempt group, the organization cannot make political activity its primary purpose. But it can run an unlimited amount of so-called issue ads -- such as its latest spot -- that stop short of calling for the election or a defeat of a candidate.