Karl Rove-Backed Attack Ad Against Montana Senator Jon Tester Pulled Off the Air

10:44 AM PST 11/12/2011 by Tina Daunt

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Jon Tester

Rove's super pac, Crossroads GPS, is accused of making false allegations against the senator as part of a five-state $1.8 million media buy this week.

An attack ad against Senator Jon Tester by the Karl Rove-backed group Crossroads GPS has been pulled off the air by a small cable network in Montana because it was deemed false, according to the Associated Press.

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The ad, which alleged that Tester voted in favor of an Environmental Protection Agency rule regulating farm dust, was dropped Friday after Cablevision's Optimum found that the measure in question was never officially proposed.

A spokesman for Crossroads said the group is talking with officials at the cable network and expects the ad to be put back up. He also noted that four other cable outlets in Montana are still airing the spot.

The Tester ad was part of Crossroads' $1.8 million media buy this week attacking five Democrats, including Massachusetts-Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren, Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson. (Both Tester and Warren were in Los Angeles recently raising Hollywood dollars for their campaigns.)

Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent questioned the accuracy of other ads put up this week by the Rove-backed Crossroads super pac.

For example, Sargent wrote, an allegation that Kaine and Nelson supported Obama's stimulus package that included "office upgrades for politicians" was misleading.

"This claim has already been thoroughly debunked -- the last time Crossroads made it, in an ad in 2010," Sargent wrote. "PolitiFact looked at the assertion and noted it was based on a project to renovate the Kansas State Capital, but concluded the money was not direct funding; instead it comes from a stimulus bond program to help local governments save money on capital projects."

He also to issue with accuracy of the Warren ad, which insinuates that the Harvard economics professor supports violence at the Occupation Wall Street protests.

The questions of truthfulness were raised during the last election cycle against Crossroads, and now "it's happening again," Sargent wrote.

Crossroads has posted links to all five ads on its website.