A Romney ad. An anti-Obama SuperPAC ad based on focus group feedback. The massive ad spending against an incumbent Democratic senator in Ohio. A post Citizens United fight over posting TV advertising info online.

All of those ad-related stories were just from today and they will be continuing through November. Democrats and their allies know they will never keep pace with conservative-funded SuperPACs and nearly anonymous issue-oriented nonprofits (and are worried about it) but today an Obama-tied SuperPAC struck back in Pa and other states with their own ad . . . and a criticism of the Karl Rove-tied ad from CrossroadsGPS launching tomorrow in the state.

While the substance of the latest ad from Priorities USA Action, led by former Obama ad Bill Burton, is nothing new (it features another worker laid off after her company was taken over by Bain; see Jim O'Toole story today) Burton couldn't resist pointing out a major difference with Rove's ad. That one features a composite character scripted by stories from focus groups. From the NYT's Michael Shear:

“You don’t need actors to know the reality of how Mitt Romney’s policies would make life even tougher for middle class families,” Mr. Burton said.

The Romney camp, Shear also notes, had criticized Obama when he used a fictional character called "Julia" to illustrate the struggles facing women.

The Priorities USA ad is below:

The National Association of Broadcasters has sued the FCC to block new rules requiring broadcast TV stations to post their political advertising info online.

I wrote about the proposed rule early this month -- it was lauded by good government groups seeking to track the explosion of ads since the Citizens United decision, but criticized by TV execs who said their business was being unfairly singled out. ("The issue is really about political rates being exposed and losing the competitive advantage. No other media have to put their rate online by force from the government," said Ray Carter, vice president and general manager of WPXI-TV.)

That is indeed what the NAB says in their suit. From the (FCC-supporting) Sunlight Foundation:

The rule requiring stations to post files that the public now must visit stations to review on paper is "arbitrary and capricious," the NAB argued in its filing to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, because it targets broadcast television stations and not competitors -- which, in prior statements, the NAB has identified as cable networks. The NAB argues that it the new FCC rule would "adversely impact NAB and the broadcasters whose interested it represents."

The NAB's main objections to the FCC rule: It could hurt stations' negotiating stance with advertisers who would be able to see ad rates, and it would require additional manpower to post the logs.

Here's a link to the full NAB complaint.

The stations have been required since 1965 to make the information public, but it is only kept in paper files at station offices.

Barack Obama is maintaining an 8-point lead over Mitt Romney in Pennsylvania -- according to the latest Public Policy Polling study -- which is 1 point better than their last look in March, putting the incumbent in pretty good position in the state.

The Democratic-leaning pollsters also show Gov. Tom Corbett's favorable/unfavorable numbers worsening by 7 points (to 37/50) since their look in November (when they were at 37-43).

From PPP:

PPP's newest Pennsylvania poll finds things have changed very little in the state over the course of the last ten weeks. Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney 50-42, basically the same as his 49-42 advantage there in early March.

It doesn't look like Obama's going to have to worry too much about Pennsylvania this year, and that's a big change from what we found in our polling of the state over the course of 2011. Obama led by an average of less than a point in four PPP polls there last year. He was plagued by poor approval ratings then, but now voters are pretty evenly divided on him with 48% approving and 49% disapproving of the job he's doing. Meanwhile Romney continues to be unpopular, with just 37% of voters rating him positively to 51% with a negative opinion.

PPP surveyed 671 Pennsylvania voters from May 17th-20th and the margin of error is +/-3.8% points. Full results here.

CrossroadsGPS, the SuperPAC co-founded by Karl Rove, is back up with a new anti-Obama ad in Pa and other battlegrounds. Though produced by the guy behind the infamous "Willie Horton" ad of 1988 this one is surprisingly low-key and shows the drilled-deep science behind high-stakes political advertising today.

The NYT has the background on the ad, called "Basketball":

In interviews with voters, Crossroads strategists picked up on some common sentiments that they concluded could provide a clear rationale for voters to deny Mr. Obama a second term.

Some said they felt that the president was an eloquent communicator, but that his actions had failed to live up to his words. They said they thought the country’s budget problems had gotten out of hand, yet the government kept spending recklessly — like someone with maxed-out credit cards. And they reported being worried that their children would not have the same opportunities to get ahead as they had.

. . . The ad opens with a woman talking about her family’s financial woes. “I always loved watching the kids play basketball,” the actress says, her voice heavy with worry as she glances out at her backyard. “I still do, even though things have changed.”

Her face quickly morphs into an old woman’s. Her skin is wrinkled, her hair gray. She explains how her adult children have moved back into the house because they are unable to find jobs. And she is not sure she can afford to retire now.

“I supported President Obama because he spoke so beautifully,” she says. “He promised change. But things changed for the worse.”

The Pennsylvania ad buy is for $1.1 million, CrossroadsGPS said, and will run for three weeks.