BY WESLEY P. HESTER

American Crossroads, the Karl Rove-founded Super PAC, has launched a new ad in Virginia and other swing states defending GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney from attacks from President Barack Obama’s campaign.

The ad, titled “Smoke,” is backed by a $1 million ad buy in Virginia and is part of a $9.3 million push in seven states attacking the Obama campaign’s ads as dishonest.

“What happened to Barack Obama?” a female narrator asks to lead off the ad. “The press, and even Democrats, say his attacks on Mitt Romney’s business record are ‘misleading, unfair and untrue,’ ‘blowing smoke,’ ‘too far,’ ‘no evidence.’”

The ad goes on to suggest that Obama is using the ads to distract from the nation’s high debt and unemployment figures.

American Crossroads and its sister organization, Crossroads GPS, have blanketed the airwaves in Virginia, attacking the president and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Timothy M. Kaine.

The two groups collectively plan to spend up to $300 million this election cycle, according to Politico.