The largest Super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton is prepared to air ads attacking Donald Trump before the convention and is looking to replicate attacks by conservative anti-Trump groups.
Trump has faced tens of millions of dollars in attack ads from conservative groups, but the Clinton campaign is hoping to dwarf this figure.
“What they spent is a drop in the bucket compared to what we’re going to spend, number one,” Guy Cecil, chief strategist for the Super PAC Priorities USA Action, told Politico.
Priorities USA Action ended February with $45 million cash-on-hand. The group has already reserved $70 million worth of TV advertisements this summer in key battleground states.
Cecil said they are ready to go up with ads before summer. “We anticipate going up before the convention, but I don’t have a date certain,” he remarked. “Whether it’s August 1, July 1, June 1, May 1, our job is to be ready.”
The PAC is not planning on running ads against Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Cecil said, “We aren’t spending time on other crazy schemes of Republicans in some basement or Mexican restaurant who are plotting to take over a convention. It’s pretty unlikely.”
Through watching the Republican primary Cecil has come to think, “you can’t wait until the last minute to go after Trump.” The Super PAC strategist said he has been looking at the advertisements against Trump ran by groups such as Club for Growth and Our Principles PAC. Our Principles PAC released an advertisement Tuesday attacking Trump for being “too reckless and dangerous.” (RELATED: Anti-Trump PACs Aren’t Worried About Hurting GOP’s 2016 Prospects)
While these ads haven’t particularly hurt the New York real estate developer in the GOP race, Cecil pointed to some of them scoring highly in polling among independent voters.
“Because something doesn’t work in the context of a Republican primary doesn’t mean it won’t work in the context of an undecided independent voter,” Cecil said.
The Clinton Super PAC does not underestimate Trump’s political abilities. Anne Caprara, the Priorities USA Action executive director, told the Virginia-based leaflet, “The one thing about Trump that keeps me up is that there are things that he’s said and done that in any conventional campaign would have derailed his campaign.”