Political Hotsheet
By

Stephanie Condon /

CBS News/ October 13, 2010, 5:11 PM

Nastiest Ad Yet? Lincoln Davis Accuses Opponent of Suicidal, Violent Behavior

With just three weeks left to slow down the Republicans' momentum going into the midterm elections, Democrats are unleashing a wave of negative attacks to bring down their opponents. Now Democratic Rep. Lincoln Davis of Tennessee is out with what may be the nastiest ad yet of the campaign season.

Davis' new ad attacks his opponent Scott DesJarlais for his "history of attacks, violent and threatening behavior." It cites court documents from about a decade ago, when DesJarlais was in a messy divorce from his first wife.

A narrator in the ad describes how DesJarlais was cited in the documents for "firing an unloaded gun outside her bedroom door, putting the gun in his own mouth for three hours." The female narrator also notes that DesJarlais -- "a rich man -- went to court to cut his child support payments."

"It's documented. It's disturbing," the narrator says as the website Go4Truth.com is flashed across the screen. The website provides links to the court documents.

After reports surfaced last month about DesJarlais' history with his ex-wife, the Republican's campaign manager told Chattanooga Times Free Press that the charges against DesJarlais were false. He accused Davis of engaging in "gutter" politics.

"Obviously, our poll numbers have Lincoln Davis running scared if he is dredging up one-sided accusations from a decade-old divorce that were shown to be untrue," Brent Leatherwood, the campaign manager, said. "The court ruled there was no validity to any of them. Period."

The Davis campaign, meanwhile, reportedly told Washington-based newspaper Roll Call that voters in Tennessee's fourth district "expect more than lip service about family values."

The Times Free Press reported that a poll commissioned by the DesJarlais campaign last month showed Davis leading by just four points, within the poll's margin of error. CBS News has put the race for Tennessee's fourth district in the category of "Probable Democratic."

Hot Ads of the Week: Bewitched in Delaware
CBSNews.com Special Report: Campaign 2010

Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
9 Comments Add a Comment
linkicon reporticon emailicon
AndersonCo_Expat says:
that she raged does not mean he didn't threaten himself or her -- or that this was the only time this scene had played out.

why didn't the media cover the story and the resulting decision during the primary? what's the story there? who controls the local media, who donates to his campaigns, who stands to win if he wins?
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
tsigili says:
That is such BS.
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
endurorob_5 says:
Bisk1 October 14, 2010 10:17 AM EDT
how is it the dems that made the wife accuse him of all these ?? The dems are just letting you know what sort of Unbalanced and Psychotic POS the Teabaggers are puuting forth for congress. Dumb Dumb repugs !!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Where did I say the dems made her accuse him? If you paid attention you would notice that there is zero evidence that he did any of these things and considering the order of contempt against the x-wife it is almost 100% positive she made up the allegations. What the dems did was make the accusations public without also noting the court saw no validity in them and that the wife was herself cited for contempt. The dems either did not do complete research or they new all the facts but chose only to make public a few of them which is basically lying.
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
endurorob_5 says:
Well, the interesting thing is that none of these allegations were noted in the final decree and the court saw no reason to adress them. Also of note is that in a follow up order Susan DesJarlais was found to be in contempt for verbally abusing and cursing Scott DesJarlais in the presence of their child. So it is likely her claims against him were lies and this is just another attempt at smear form desperate dems.
reply
Bisk1 replies:
linkicon reporticon emailicon
how is it the dems that made the wife accuse him of all these ?? The dems are just letting you know what sort of Unbalanced and Psychotic POS the Teabaggers are puuting forth for congress. Dumb Dumb repugs !!
linkicon reporticon emailicon
Amusedbyitall says:
What is more disturbing is there were children involved. But it never happened because DesJarlais's paid spin doictor said so.
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
recoveringRepub says:
The campaign manager said those claims were false and one sided; SO when does that matter? Look at those false claims about our elected President. More power to the people and the democrats running in this election. Principle and honor have long left the building and it's about time the dems catch up with the movement. Hate and falsehoods rule. Come on Dems you can do it too. America; divide and conquer........Then again we all could "just get along" since it seems we don't have it too bad. All kindergarden kids carrying cell phones. I grew up with a "party line" and an outside crapper. America has really gone down hill with the liberals in charge???? Vote Democrat Party lines only----
reply
linkicon reporticon emailicon
dronemonk says:
"Firing an unloaded gun"?

Stop beating on the english language!
reply
Amusedbyitall replies:
linkicon reporticon emailicon
What do you expect. It was part of court documents. A lawyer probably wrote it.