Workers' Voice, the super PAC of the AFL-CIO, announced on Monday that it was making a "hyper-targeted," half-million-dollar online ad buy aimed at pulling progressive activists into its 2012 efforts.
The largest union-affiliated super PAC, Workers' Voice is not planning to take a traditional approach with its war chest of more than $4 million. The group has handed control of its money to union and nonunion activists in its network, who will decide which candidates and issues the money will support. Monday's ad buy is aimed at bringing those potential activists into the fold.
"These grassroots ads are just the first step in our efforts to combine old fashioned organizing energy with cutting edge technology," Michael Podhorzer, the AFL-CIO political director, said in a statement. "Our activists across the country will be hitting the ground running with the ability to begin taking action later this week."
Changes in campaign finance laws have led to new rules for corporations and unions, with the latter now allowed to knock on doors of nonunion voters. Although labor organizers expect labor PACs to be vastly outspent by corporate ones, the AFL-CIO hopes to counter conservative spending with grassroots activities, with Workers' Voice being the engine for that.
Those involved with the super PAC apparently hope to reach progressive activists by demonstrating a disdain for Mitt Romney. The new ads paint the presumptive GOP candidate as the "president for the 1 percent," with one version calling him a "corporate outsourcer" and another labeling him a "vulture capitalist."
The ads will run nationwide on websites, Facebook and Twitter, targeting union and nonunion voters alike. The group will make heavier buys in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida and Nevada; some ads will be in Spanish.
Versions of the ads are shown here.
The Romney campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.