American Crossroads defends campaign spending to donors
Washington (CNN) - Officials from the Republican super PAC American Crossroads, including its co-founder Karl Rove, defended their campaign spending and talked about the group's future during a conference call Thursday with 50 of its top donors.
Participants agreed they would not discuss the contents of the call with the media.
American Crossroads and its affiliate, Crossroads GPS, aired tens of millions of dollars worth of television ads aimed at defeating President Barack Obama as well as wresting control of the Senate from Democrats by going after incumbents and challengers in key races.
The two groups exceeded their fund-raising goal of $300 million for this election cycle.
Among those on the call was broadcast executive Stanley Hubbard, who refused to discuss what was said during it except to say "it was very friendly. I didn't hear any negative feedback or comments."
The Sunlight Foundation, a non-profit organization which tracks the influence of money on politics and works to make government more transparent, released an analysis Thursday questioning the effectiveness of American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS this campaign.
Using available data, the Sunlight Foundation said of the $103.5 million American Crossroads spent in the general election, 1.29% of it ended in the desired result. None of the candidates American Crossroads supported won, and most of the candidates it opposed were victorious.
Crossroads GPS, which does not have to disclose its donors, spent $70 million during the general election with 14.4% of it having the result it wanted, according to Sunlight Foundation's analysis. In the key Senate races in which it ran ads, Nevada Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley's defeat was the one success it had.
Obama's defeat and the Republicans gaining control of the Senate were major aims for these groups and their contributors - and neither one was accomplished.
Following Election Day, officials from Crossroads have worked to soothe the concerns of large and small donors through phone calls and other communications.
"Donors have questions globally about what worked and didn't, and while all are disappointed with Tuesday's results, most have expressed a strong interest in our continuity and support for new efforts in 2014," American Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio told CNN.
Democrats, who at the start of the campaign were worried they would be far out-spent by Republican super PACs and other independent groups, have been eager to raise questions about their record following the election. For its part, Crossroads officials said they still had a major impact and kept Republicans competitive.
"Democrats leveraged their incumbency to dramatically out-raise and outspend their Republican opponents this cycle, and Republican outside groups balanced that spending out to keep this a two point race all the way to the end," Collegio said.
Rove also defended the super PACs' effectiveness. He pointed out in an interview with Fox News, where he is a political analyst, that American Crossroads was quicker to come to Mitt Romney's defense when the attacks on his business career first began.
"The first group to respond to the attacks on Bain, on Bain Capital, were not the Romney campaign. It was American Crossroads with an ad in July," Rove said.
One major Republican fund-raiser, who was not involved with the major super PACs and related groups involved in the presidential campaign this year, and who requested anonymity to speak freely, told CNN "you have to look at how effectively" the groups operated.
The fundraiser said if he were a donor to a Republican super PAC, "I'd question the return on their investment."
As to whether he thinks his donations were a waste, Stanley Hubbard told CNN "I think when you are helping in the democratic process it is never a waste."
With the election now over, American Crossroads is preparing to engage in the next battle to hit Washington: what to do about the fiscal cliff of major spending cuts and expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts that will hit at the end of the year unless there is action by Congress and the president.
Republican outside groups spent twice what Mitt Romney did on advertising in battleground states this campaign - $411 million to $180 million.
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Yo Carl!! if you really want to do some good how about pitching in and helping the people hurt by Sandy or is that beneath your goups abilities??
LMAO. Buddy, you can't get money to buy a lollipop next time around. You're finished! Go jump off a rooftop.
How does Karl Rove have any cedibility? He doesn't seem to have as much influence to sell but at least he is making a good living fleecing the naive.
It's encouraging to see the election couldn't be bought.
Rove and the republicans want to blame Romney's loss on Hurricane Sandy, an 'Act of God'.
So, does that mean that they think that God was endorsing President Obama?
Why didn't these people take all their billions of dollars and pay down the national debt where it would do some good for our country instead of throwing it away trying to gain political influence by backing candidates that just burn trough their money and lose anyway. Don't these people get that if the people they backed were winners then they would not need the billions of dollars spent on them to win. Reminds me of a saying about a silk purse and a sow's ear.
Dear Mr Hubbard, get real, secret super pacs, with their unkown donors, drowning out the voices of the little guy, are the COMPLETE opposite of democracy. Just think what good you could have done with all that wasted dough.
Aha.. ahahaaaa! Karl baby, I really enjoyed watching your election night when it was evident that Barack Obama had been elected. OMG after watching your smug face and hearing your loud mouth, it was refreshing to see your well laid out plans blow up on your face. You know, if Mittens had not spent so much lying and reinventing all of his previous positions, he might have made it. Aha. ... ahaaaa. Whew. Funny I didn't think that President Obama had a prayer with all of you nipping at his heels. Americans restored my faith in our collective common sense.
Rove failed twice, once with McCain and once with Romney. The only thing he succeeded at was bringing us 8 years of Dubya.
This is the most crooked of all the Super PACS. They are all corrupt, but this one is the most corrupt of all.
Rove lost hundreds of millions of right wing dollars. How sad,........ not.
Guess Rove can give a good talk he wessel tens of millions out of his rich buddies. And won 1 senate race. What a deal.
Every Xroads ad was 100% LIES.......Rove should be BANISHED to Guantanamo and put in the same cell as KSM....
I donated $45 to Obama and I got a return.
If anytime I would want to be a fly on the wall....you cant tell me the conversation was friendly. They spent millions none of their candidates won and most important Romney lost. If they dont want to pay higher taxes what makes you think a zero return on an investment like Romney is sitting? Guess Mitt wasnt a job creator or good businessman. If he was he would be president and he would have told is backers to invest in the stock market or something other than him
I would not trust Karl Rove ever, On anything but especially with money
Maybe sheldon adelson and the kooky brothers could give a couple of hundred million more to pay Democratic senators to quit and hand the reins to "humans" such as akin and mourdoch, and an extra dollar or two to joe the plumber,who got a whopping 29% of the vote in his district.
Bye, bye Karl.
Mitt Romney and his Republican backers can probably afford to buy any house in America but the White House.
if you trust Rove with your millions and you get nothing in return I think you deserve every dollar lost.
Karl Rove, meet Mr Geobles, Another looser who thaught he could run the world
I would pay good money to see Karl Rove eat dirt.
They should hire Ari Fleischer's firm.
Absolutely love that these folks pumped $400M into the US economy during these tough times. Now we know how to extract investment dollars that actually create jobs from the top 1% – you have an election. Thanks again!
Rove's claim to fame is getting the least respected and least accomplished President in modern history elected. Heck of a track record.