Republican strategist Carl Forti has been described, variously, as ‘Karl Rove’s Karl Rove’ (Politico), ‘one of the smartest people in politics you’ve never heard of’ (Karl Rove), and ‘the Alexander the Great of the Republican independent expenditure world’ (Republican operative Bradley Blakeman). You can add one more to the list: President Obama and the Democrats’ worst nightmare in 2012. A pioneer in the post-Citizens United world of super-PACs and dark money, Forti is one of the lead architects of the GOP’s outside-spending strategy and an operative who has for years tested the boundaries of campaign finance law.

Forti first waded into the outside-money wars while working for the National Republican Congressional Committee. During the 2006 election cycle, he managed an $82 million independent-expenditure campaign-the largest in the committee’s history. Through the Black Rock Group, the strategic communications firm he cofounded, Forti has gone on to advise an all-star roster of conservative outside-spending groups, including the 60 Plus Association (the ‘conservative AARP’) and Americans for Job Security. Forti is also the political director of American Crossroads and advocacy director of Crossroads GPS, the Rove-inspired outfits that reported spending nearly $39 million together during the midterms. The groups have already begun running ads […]