Obama Kicks Off Week Focusing on Energy With New Ad

Julianna Goldman Mon Aug 4, 8:13 AM ET

Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Democrat Barack Obama kicked off a week focusing on energy policies with an advertisement that accuses Republican rival for president John McCain of being ``in the pocket of big oil.''

Obama, his party's presumptive nominee, will deliver a speech at 11 a.m. New York time today in Lansing, Michigan, to outline a proposal to provide a $1,000 energy rebate for struggling Americans and reduce dependence on Middle Eastern oil in 10 years, his campaign said. Later in the week, he takes his campaign to Ohio and Indiana for energy-focused town halls.

In the television advertisement that begins today and airs nationwide, Arizona Senator McCain is pictured next to President George W. Bush, and there are captions saying McCain has received $2 million in oil contributions and favors $4 billion in new tax breaks for oil companies.

The ad touts the $1,000 energy rebate that Obama proposed last week, and an announcer says: ``Every time you fill your tank, the oil companies fill their pockets. Now big oil's filling John McCain's campaign with $2 million dollars in contributions.''

Both candidates have received money from the oil industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington- based research group. McCain received $1.3 million from the oil and gas industry through June, and Obama brought in $394,000 from political action committees and individuals in that sector, according to the center.

McCain Response

McCain's campaign cited Obama's support for the 2005 energy bill that provided $14.5 billion in tax breaks for oil companies. Illinois senator Obama said earlier this year that he voted for the legislation because it was the ``single largest investment'' in clean energy ``we have ever seen.''

``Barack Obama's latest negative attack ad shows his celebrity is matched only by his hypocrisy,'' said Tucker Bounds, a McCain campaign spokesman. ``It was Senator Obama, not John McCain, who voted for the Bush-Cheney energy bill that was a sweetheart deal for oil companies.''

Obama's latest ad comes after McCain launched television and Internet ads last week portraying Obama as arrogant and presuming to win in November. One ad compares Obama with pop-culture personalities Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and another, dubbed ``The One,'' mocks Obama's appeal and asks ``Barack Obama may be the one. But is he ready to lead?''

Obama, who turns 47 today, shifted his opposition to offshore oil drilling last week, saying he's willing to support an expansion that's part of an $84 billion Senate plan aimed at increasing domestic energy production. The two presidential candidates have sparred over using domestic oil drilling, which McCain, 71, supports, as a solution to high energy prices and a sluggish economy.

To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Chicago at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net