Karl Rove helps Tim Kaine in Virginia

If you can't watch the ad above from Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, this screen capture pretty much tells the whole story:

Yup, the whole ad is about how Tim Kaine is joined at Barack Obama's hip, because apparently Karl Rove still thinks Virginia is like Alabama. But in reality:

Public Policy Polling. 4/26-29. Registered voters. MoE 3.8%

Barack Obama 50
Mitt Romney 38

Indeed, Obama has consistently scored higher marks against Romney than Tim Kaine has against George Allen (essentially a tied race). And the higher a turnout the Obama campaign can generate this November, the better Kaine's chances will be.

That kind of ad might work in places like North Dakota, West Virginia, or Montana, where the Democratic Senate candidates will depend on ticket splitters to win their elections. But the more Kaine is attached to Obama in Virginia, the better he will do.

It's a curious strategy on Rove's part, until you remember that he's got his math, and it seldom has any relationship to actual arithmetic.