MoveOn Links McCain, Dole In New Ad

MoveOn.org Political Action announced today that it spent half a million dollars to produce and air a new ad, called "Pocket," in North Carolina. The ad ties N.C. Senator Elizabeth Dole, who is in a tough reelection fight, with presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, suggesting that both are "in the pocket of big oil."

Obama has run ads suggesting the same of McCain, also using the phrase "in the pocket of big oil."

"We could have provided clean energy for a million homes," an announcer says as the spot opens on a shot of a young child in front of wind turbines. "Or created thousands of new jobs. Or reduced our dependence on foreign oil."

"Instead, John McCain and Elizabeth Dole allowed big oil companies to keep $13.5 billion dollars in tax breaks while taking huge contributions from Big Oil," he continues.

MoveOn explains this claim this way in its press release: "John McCain and Elizabeth Dole could have voted for cloture on the Energy Bill before the Senate in December, breaking the filibuster that granted $13.5 billion in continued tax breaks for oil companies (the bill, which needed only one more vote for cloture, would have repealed the 2004 and 2005 Bush tax breaks for the top five oil companies)."

The anouncer concludes: "John McCain and Elizabeth Dole: Two more Republicans in the pocket of big oil."

UPDATE: The Republican National Committee' Amber Wilkerson responds: "The fact of the matter is that Barack Obama is the only candidate in this race who voted for the '05 Energy Bill, which gave nearly $3 billion in new giveaways to Big Oil, and he has received more from the pockets of employees at several of Big Oil's largest and most recognizable companies."