Of those claims, Stein said, "I'm pretty tired of his attacks. He's having to deal with a primary opponent because of this issue."

Representatives of groups that support emigration control have denied any such hidden agendas, although the 2002 IRS reports for the Pioneer Fund show that group gave a $10,000 donation to ProjectUSA and $5,000 to Californians for Population Stabilization.

On its Web site, the Pioneer Fund describes itself as a "foundation established in 1937 to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences." The group in the past has used its money to fund eugenics research, which is defined as: "the study of hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled selective breeding. His accusations are wildly fanciful, that I'm part of some dark plot of sterilizing the Third World is absurd," Nelsen said. "If I'm a sterilizationist because the Pioneer Fund has given me money, then what is Chris Cannon but a member of a white supremacist organization — i.e. Congress," he said, referring to past views of some congressmen.

Burbank said in light of campaign finance changes, more issue groups will likely pop up, such as moveon.org, which he said exists solely to "go after President Bush."

"In one way, this is kind of what you would hope would happen in campaigns. (Immigration) is an issue, which ordinarily is not going to get a lot of attention. . . . The issue is something we should discuss, we should debate."

Burbank said there is a danger that such groups could mislead voters — one reason politicians who passed the new law required such groups to stop radio and television ads 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election.

He said the 3rd District ads claimed Cannon supported amnesty, which Cannon continually denies. And such issue ads can impact the outcome of an election. Cannon beat Throckmorton despite such advertising, but Burbank said if the immigration issue hadn't been raised, Cannon likely would not have been forced into a primary election.

Rep. Jim Matheson, a Democrat representing the state's 2nd Congressional District, was given the same grade as Cannon on ProjectUSA's Web site. Matheson, who has been listed as a possible target in November, said outside groups likely "won't have a significant ouztcome on the race."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com