Embattled Rep. Earl Pomeroy is taking aim at third-party groups for blanketing North Dakota with a “cookie-cutter” campaign ad that doesn’t quite ring true for voters in the state.

The Democrat’s campaign is specifically targeting a new campaign ad paid for by Crossroads GPS, founded by Karl Rove.

“North Dakota’s economy is reeling and Congressman Earl Pomeroy is making it worse,” a narrator says at the beginning of the ad.

The only problem is the Peace Garden State is having an economic boom. Unemployment in North Dakota is less than 4 percent.

Pomeroy is in a highly competitive race against Republican Rick Berg.

“North Dakotans are going to see through this phony ad just like they’ve seen through Rick Berg’s phony Washington talking points,” Pomeroy spokesman Brenden Timpe said in a statement. “Next time Karl Rove wants to funnel secret money to North Dakota to influence our elections, he ought to visit our state first or at least pick up one of our newspapers. If he did, he would know that North Dakota’s economy is doing quite well thank you very much, and Earl has been a strong partner in that progress.”

Crossroads GPS spokesman Jonathan Collegio defended the ad.

“Unemployment is 25 percent higher than it was the last time Earl Pomeroy ran for re-election in North Dakota,” Collegio said. He cited statistics that show there are more than 13,000 people unemployed in the state, compared with about 10,000 unemployed in 2008.