Karl Rove's Historically Colossal Waste of Money

By WALTER HICKEY

Karl Rove is the co-founder and senior advisor to American Crossroads, a multifaceted organization that has raised massive amounts of money in order to get Mitt Romney elected to the presidency.

That did not work out.

Here's how much American Crossroads spent on Mitt Romney, thanks to the records at the Center for Responsive Politics.

• In 2012, American Crossroads' Super PAC raised $80 million.
• Using money rolled over from a previous cycle, American Crossroads Super PAC spent $100 million this election cycle.
• American Crossroads Super PAC spent more than 84% of that -- $84.6 million to be precise -- in independent expenditures against Barack Obama.
• They also spent $6.5 million bolstering Mitt Romney
• The affiliated 501(c) spent $70 million on the election, much of that in support of Mitt Romney's presidential bid.
• In the end, Rove spent between $90 million and $160 million of other people's money on Mitt Romney. That investment did not pay off.

Some donors spent multi-millions with the belief that Rove and Romney would deliver victory, the highest donor giving $19.5 million.

All that money might explain why Rove had a televised meltdown when Fox called Ohio -- and thus the election -- for Obama Tuesday night.

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