The conservative group Club for Growth dropped its first ad against Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump since it endorsed Texas Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] for the White House earlier in the week and John Kasich supporters are not happy.
The endorsement is the first time the organization ever threw their support behind a candidate during a presidential cycle.
In the 30-second ad, titled “Math,” Club for Growth urges voters to in Wisconsin to cast their ballots for Cruz, explaining that Ohio Gov. John Kasich does not stand a chance to win the nomination. lub for Growth spent $1 million on this particular ad buy.
“Donald Trump is the worst candidate in the Republican field, and he can’t win in November,” said Club for Growth president David McIntosh in a statement released with the ad. “It’s time for Republicans to rally around Ted Cruz, the one candidate who can lead the party to victory.”
The ad begins with with a voiceover as a hand draws comparison graphs of the candidates support on a chalk board:
If you don’t want Donald Trump to win, your choice comes down to this: Math.
Only Ted Cruz can beat Donald Trump.
John Kasich can’t do it.
The math won’t work.
A vote for Kasich actually helps Trump by dividing the opposition. It’s time to put differences aside.
To stop Trump, vote for Cruz.
The pro-Kasich super PAC New Day for America took offense with the ad and went after the Club for Growth for the insinuations about the Ohio governor. New Day For America Chief Strategist Matt David issued the following statement in response to the ad:
“Voters are smart enough to know Club for Growth is nothing more than a special interest group run by a bunch of Washington, DC hacks and has-beens who have never led the effort to balance the federal budget or run a state, let alone turn one around by taking a deficit and turning it into a surplus that helped create over 400,000 jobs. Despite what their ‘official scorecard’ says, that’s presidential. And, anyone being honest with themselves knows Ted Cruz will not get to 1,237, but honesty has never been their priority — their agenda is their priority.”