“Donald Trump is not a conservative because he’s extreme on abortion,” the new ad slamming the GOP front-runner begins. Cruz super PAC goes negative on Trump

The pro-Ted Cruz super PAC Keep the Promise I is going up on air Monday with a pair of ads skewering Donald Trump, the first negative television spots the deep-pocketed group has launched against the GOP's poll-leader to date.

The spots come as part of a $2.5 million television ad buy from Keep the Promise I, and land as Cruz and Trump are locked in a tight race in Iowa, with Trump appearing to edge Cruz in a number of recent polls. The ads will air in Iowa and South Carolina.


One spot, titled “Extreme,” bashes Trump over his record on abortion, in keeping with Cruz’s message that Trump is a recent convert to the conservative cause, with a long previous history of liberal views.

“Donald Trump is not a conservative because he’s extreme on abortion,” the ad begins.

It then cuts to an interview Trump gave in 1999, in which he said he would not ban partial birth abortion, and that he is “pro-choice in every respect,” a phrase the ad repeats three times.

“Donald Trump: for partial birth abortion. Not a conservative,” it concludes.

The other ad, called “I like Ted,” is a television version of a digital ad the group launched last week, featuring audio from Trump who gave a flattering introduction for Cruz in 2014 at a Lincoln Day fundraising dinner in Palm Beach, Fla., according to the spot.

“Now, one of the reasons I like Ted Cruz so much is that he’s not controversial,” Trump says to laughs. “But the truth is, he shouldn’t be controversial because what he’s doing is right, it’s common sense, it’s good government, it’s so many good things. He’s now a very popular and important figure. So with that, I would like to introduce a very special guy, Sen. Ted Cruz.”