Conservative "Super PACs" Synchronize Their Messages Crossroads GPS From the numbers they cite to the illustrations they use, some of the televised anti-Obama commercials developed for conservative political groups are indistinguishable except for the disclaimer saying who approved the message. Independent political groups have long been the guerrilla warriors of presidential elections, tossing explosive advertisements into the middle of a campaign like hand grenades, with little regard for the strategy of the candidate they support. But this year, in a tight race that leaves very little room for error, the conservative "super PACs" and other outside entities working to defeat President Obama have reached a consensus: Going off message is simply too risky. So they operate largely from the same playbook, sharing polling data and focus group research to develop many of the same lines of attack. And they are being careful to keep their efforts consistent with the themes being emphasized by Mitt Romney's campaign. The result is a striking degree of symmetry. To see many of the anti-Obama ads that have run on television recently, it would be easy to conclude that they were made in the same studios, by the same producers working for the same campaign. From the numbers they throw out (23 million people looking for work, $5 trillion in new debt), to the illustrations they use (a squiggly red line, plunging steeply), they are often indistinguishable except for the disclaimer saying who approved this message. "Dishonest on taxes because he failed on jobs," says a recent ad from Crossroads GPS, the group run with the help of Karl Rove and other top Republican strategists. "Barack Obama wasted $800 billion on a failed stimulus," says another produced by Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney super PAC. It is no accident that the theme driving these ads - Mr. Obama is a failed leader - is also a major component of the Romney campaign's message. An ad released last week by the campaign declares that the president is "failing American families." This sharpened message is providing the Romney campaign crucial cover as it works to raise more money to pay for advertising of its own and recover from its recent stumbles. And by coordinating their advertising purchases, the outside groups are maintaining a continuous presence on the air for the next few weeks while plugging many of the holes in Mr. Romney's ad schedule. Over the last two weeks, these groups have allowed Mr. Romney to keep pace on the air, roughly matching what Mr. Obama and his supporters have spent. This week they will ensure Mr. Romney has the advantage by several million dollars in competitive states. The implications for Mr. Obama, who has been able to prevent Mr. Romney's poll numbers from rising in swing states like Ohio and Florida in part because of his heavy spending on attack ads, are considerable. He now faces the full force of the Republican message machine - with more than $100 million at its disposal - coming at him in lock step. "Outside groups have to view themselves in a supportive and amplifying role, not as some rogue enterprise trying to score their own points," said Steven J. Law, president of Crossroads GPS and its sister super PAC, American Crossroads. In the past, groups would go off on their own and come up with what they thought was a great idea. And they could potentially do significant harm. He added that the groups are careful now to keep one another in the loop. "There's a great deal of sharing," he said. And as long as they do not coordinate with Mr. Romney's strategists, everything is perfectly legal. Though campaigns and outside groups are prohibited from collaborating, they are free to amplify and emulate each other. "All of us have come to our own conclusions, but we have all come to the same conclusion," said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, the advocacy group financed in part by Charles and David Koch. To defeat the president, the public needs to understand the utter failures of his economic policies. A change in pitch in the message that Americans for Prosperity was using is just one example of the way independent political groups have gotten on the same page. The group started out by focusing on the Solyndra scandal, attacking the president as a corrupt figure who granted his cronies lucrative government contracts. But their latest television campaign - featuring real voters describing how they feel let down by the president and will not support him again - borrows a page from the American Crossroads playbook, which found that more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger critiques of Mr. Obama worked better with swing voters than ads with a hard edge. "The tone is crucial," Mr. Phillips said. Our ads don't call anyone names. They're very measured.