One-time White House adviser Karl Rove has been asking top GOP campaign contributors to give money not only to the Republican National Committee but also to independent political action groups that specialize in issue-oriented attack ads, the newspaper said. Rove is said to be especially favoring Freedom's Watch, a group co-run by former GOP campaign officials Carl Forti and Tony Feather.

Those who have heard Rove speak say he trusts the group. He says Republicans need to counterbalance the millions of dollars pouring into left-leaning political committees such as MoveOn.org, which favor Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the Times reported.

Freedom's Watch has some hard-hitting attacks ads planned for major U.S. markets and that has some Democrats concerned.

"There are these shadowy groups out there who can spend an unlimited amount of unaccountable money," U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., chairman of the House Democrats' fundraising committee, told the Times. "That is what 'Freedom's Watch' is geared up to do."