Rove-linked super PACs raise $100 million

Karl Rove (Tony Gutierrez/AP)Conservative super PACs linked to former Bush adviser Karl Rove have raised nearly $100 million so far this election cycle?including $49 million during the first three months of this year alone.

Jonathan Collegio, a spokesman for American Crossroads and its sister group, Crossroads GPS, tells Yahoo News the pro-Republican groups will report raising a combined $99.8 million in financial reports filed with the Federal Election Commission Friday.

The groups plan to raise at least $240 million ahead of November?with most of that money being targeted toward defeating President Barack Obama this fall. Already, they have spent more than $1 million on ads attacking Obama's record on the economy.

The Crossroads groups, early members of the so-called "shadow GOP," spent $70 million in the final months of the 2010 election, when they first emerged on the fundraising scene. The groups are expected to be among the biggest players in the 2012 campaign because there are no legal limits on what the PACs are allowed to raise and spend on the upcoming election.

A key distinction between the committees is that American Crossroads, a so-called "527" political group, is required to disclose its donors to the FEC while Crossroads GPS, a 501(c)(4) group, is not.

The Crossroads groups are expected to play a major role in boosting Mitt Romney's campaign, given that the presumptive GOP nominee enters the general election at a major cash disadvantage to President Obama.

According to Collegio, American Crossroads will report just over $24 million cash on hand as of Mar. 31?more than twice as much as Romney had, according to his campaign. The group declined to say how much Crossroads GPS has in the bank.

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