One of the television commercials is an anti-Kasich spot that attacks the governor for expanding Medicaid in Ohio under the Affordable Care Act and shows a clip of President Obama praising Kasich. The super PAC ran the same ad in Wisconsin earlier this month. The other one is a pro-Cruz ad that seems to implicitly contrast the Texas senator with front-runner Donald Trump. The ads will rotate.

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The new spending comes as recent polls show Cruz running third in New York, well behind Trump and in close competition with Kasich.

The pro-Cruz ad does not mention his opponents. But it appears to take a veiled swipe at Trump's aggressive rhetoric.

"The stakes are too high. Danger lurks at home and abroad. And it'll take a leader to defeat the terrorists and protect our homeland. The time for big talk has passed. Ted Cruz is trusted and proven," says the narrator.

The radio ad portrays Cruz as a genuine conservative who can be trusted.

Kellyanne Conway, the president of Keep The Promise I, a super PAC affiliated with Trusted Leadership, told The Post the TV ads will run on cable television in most media markets. The radio ad will air in Albany, Binghamton, Elmira, Olean, Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, Rochester, Utica-Rome and Watertown.

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Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols responded by saying: "The fact that they see us as the bigger threat is interesting as is the fact that they are terrified by Trump."

Advertising in the New York City media market is very expensive and the group is declining to place ads there right now. But Conway said the Trusted Leadership is organizing on the ground in the 7th, 9th and 15th congressional districts -- all Democratic-dominated New York City districts where there is a limited universe of Republican voters to target. The idea, Conway said, is that those Republican voters are so rarely targeted that they can be snapped into attention when addressed directly.