A Karl Rove-affiliated group that spent heavily in the 2010 elections is getting an early start on messaging to Latino voters in the Big Four states (FL, NM, CO and NV) and, wisely, it’s not on immigration:

An arm of American Crossroads is going up with a Spanish-language ad hammering President Obama in nine Hispanic-heavy markets and DC, POLITICO has learned. The Crossroads GPS spot will air in Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Denver, Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, El Paso, Las Vegas, Reno and DC. An English version has already been up on cable and broadcast in key states.

“I supported President Obama because he spoke so beautifully, but since then things have gone from bad to much worse,” says a female character in the English version of the same ad. “He said spending hundreds of billions on a stimulus would create more jobs, but now all we’ve got is a lot more debt and more people out of work.”

In the absence of a huge advantage on immigration, Obama’s real vulnerability among Latino voters, as with all Americans, is on economic issues. Latino families are hurting. If you listened to advocates and the mainstream press you’d think it was only because of immigration. But among likely Hispanic voters (those who register and turn out) the more pressing concern has always been jobs.

The President continues to enjoy majority support among Latino voters, if not at all-time highs. The question for Republicans is whether they can peel away enough anxious voters who are willing to overlook the party’s history of xenophobia and fear-mongering. This ad is probably a good start for them, and American Crossroads and other groups will have enough unrestricted cash to keep hammering away. It remains to be seen whether the GOP can stay credible on the economy as they careen us toward default, slash services that benefit our communities and continue to hold job-creation bills hostage. Immigration is another story altogether.

And who’s funding these groups you may wonder? Among the only disclosed donors from the first half of 2011 was Jerry Perenchio, the former chairman of Univision. He wrote American Crossroads a $2 million check.