CPI:

Freshmen Sen. Kelly Ayotte found herself under serious political fire.

The New Hampshire Republican’s vote in April against enhancing firearm background checks prompted withering ads from a gun control group. Then another. And another.

But shortly thereafter, a conservative nonprofit — funded in part by some of Ayotte’s own Senate colleagues, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of campaign finance filings — sprang into action on Ayotte’s behalf.