Karl Rove isn’t pulling any punches in rhetorically battering Ashley Judd.
The Republican’s super PAC, American Crossroads, is airing an ad in Kentucky criticizing the actress who is considering making a run against Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell—an indication that Rove thinks Judd is a threat in 2014.
The ad, titled “Ashley’s Story,” berates her as a Hollywood liberal, who has deep ties to President Obama, and is from Tennessee—not Kentucky.
Last year, Judd was part of Tennessee’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention, although she grew up in Kentucky and went to college there. Judd has said she's honored to be mentioned as a potential Democratic contender but has not decided if she'll throw her hat into the ring.
The ad plays clips of Judd saying she’ll “go wherever the president wants me to go,” declaring “Tennessee is home,” and insisting she is “aggressively and delightfully radical.”
The narrator concludes, “Ashley Judd: An Obama-following, radical Hollywood liberal, who’s right at home in Tennessee—I mean Kentucky.”
Judd released a statement thanking "McConnell, Karl Rove and their negative allies for all the attention as she considers her future poltical plans," adding a decision has not yet been made. The ad is being backed by $10,000 in paid digital advertising and is running for two weeks in Kentucky.
American Crossroads poured more than $100 million on Republican candidates in the 2012 election, although that doesn’t mean Rove was successful. According to reports, Rove’s super PAC saw just a 1% return on investment.
McConnell is one of 13 Republicans up for re-election in 2014, and according to recent polls it looks like he may be in a bit of trouble.
According to a Courier-Journal Bluegrass poll, just 17% of voters say they’ll cast their ballots for McConnell. That includes only 34% of Republicans. Meanwhile 34% of voters are against him, 44% are waiting to see who is running against him, and 6% haven’t made up their minds.
Meanwhile, McConnell—perhaps worried about his re-election—has tried to shore up support from the far right, recently warning supporters that “gun grabbers” on Capitol Hill are trying to do away with the Second Amendment.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee came out with an ad blasting McConnell for not backing new gun legislation. It declares McConnell is against change because he’s “funded by the gun industry.”
No Democrats or Republicans have officially said they'll run against McConnell, who has the backing of Tea Party favorite Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.