Group with Rove ties spends $272,000 to attack Rep. Davis

NASHVILLE - A political fundraising group with ties to GOP strategist Karl Rove has plunked down $272,100 as Republican groups increasingly coalesce around efforts to defeat U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis in Tennessee's 4th Congressional District.

Federal Election Commission filings show Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies spent $9,500 on ad production and is spending another $262,600 to air ads opposing Davis, who faces Republican Scott DesJarlais of Jasper in Tuesday's general election.

Crossroads, organized under tax laws as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group, does not have to disclose who gives it money. Rove has acknowledged that he advises and fundraises for the group.

Speaking at a Democratic rally Tuesday night in Warren County, Davis lashed out at groups leaping into the contest with independent expenditures and attacking him, accusing them of peddling lies to voters.

"And we have Karl Rove and his group coming in. Nobody knows where the money comes from," Davis said, warning of direct, secret contributions from "Corporate America" and "wealthy entrepreneurs."

Earlier this month, two watchdog groups, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, fired off a letter to the Internal Revenue Service, requesting it investigate whether Crossroads GPS was violating U.S. tax requirements regarding nonprofit groups by its involvement in elections.

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