For American Crossroads, it’s $50,000 down and $119,950,000 to go as the 2012 election cycle starts to rev up a bit. The conservative PAC which counts former George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove among its leaders is planning to drop a $120M money bomb on Democrats (and on behalf of Republicans) and is putting up a $50K radio flight attacking Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) in her home turf.
Democrats and the independents that caucus with them hold a 53-47 seat advantage in the Senate at the moment, but Democrats also have by far the most seats to defend this cycle. They further have a number of members on shaky ground, and McCaskill is one of them.
Missouri figures to be just one of many senatorial battleground states that will attract a lot of extra attention as Republicans make every effort to take advantage of this opportunity to reclaim the majority, and Democrats make every effort to stop them.
The Supreme Court’s Citizens United case figures to make even more money available to PACs such as American Crossroads, and record amounts of cash are expected to flow into campaigns and into broadcast advertising budgets.
The Missouri effort is expected to be run on a statewide basis.
