Cruz and Super-PACs Echo Each Other's Anti-Trump Ads

Released within hours of each other, the similarly themed spots show how campaigns and outside groups can spread the same message without violating the law.

FAMILY LEADERSHIP SUMMIT — Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

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By Bill Allison

January 26, 2016 at 9:50 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Ted Cruz’s campaign and a pair of super-PACs have started spreading the news about Donald J. Trump’s "New York values," running strikingly similar political ads in Iowa that illustrate how independent outside groups can amplify a campaign’s message without running afoul of the law.

The anti-Trump spots feature clips from a 1999 interview the billionaire gave to NBC's Meet the Press. Cruz’s campaign ad and one by Stand for Truth, one of the super-PACs supporting the Texas senator’s presidential campaign, both begin with the billionaire developer’s observation to Tim Russert that "he's lived in Manhattan all his life" and that his values are "different than if I lived in Iowa." They also highlight Trump's remark in response to a question from Russert on partial-birth abortion, to which Trump eventually responds, "I am pro-choice in every respect." Another pro-Cruz super-PAC called Keep the Promise I is running its own ad that bores down on Trump’s "pro-choice" response. Like the other two ads, which hit the same notes, it hammers home the takeaway message that Trump is "not a conservative."