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Media Matters Action Network has released a new ad in which presumptive GOP nominee John McCain is portrayed as the favorite candidate of the media. Though McCain has jokingly referred to the media as his "base" in the past, most chatter concerning media favoritism recently has focused on Barack Obama.

The spot shows McCain picking flowers off a sunflower and repeating the words "they love me" as various members of the media are shown speaking positively about the Arizona senator.

"Fed up?" asks an announcer at the end. "Take the pledge to hold the media accountable." (The Media Matters Action Network Web site features a book pushing this same critique called "Free Ride: John McCain And The Media." CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder reports that Media Matters is spending about $100,000 to air the spot.

Media Matters' conservative counterpart, Media Research Center, meanwhile, writes today that the networks disproportionately covered Obama's trip to Europe. "The Big Three broadcast networks lavished an incredible amount of attention on Barack Obama's tour of the Middle East and Europe last week," they write. "Compared to a very similar trip by John McCain last March, the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts gave Obama more than ten times the coverage — 92 minutes for the Democrat's eight-day trip, compared to just eight and a half minutes for the Republican's seven-day tour."

Here's the Media Matters spot:



The AFL-CIO, meanwhile, which supports Obama, is sending a mailer to union households in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania trying to knock down rumors about the presumptive Democratic nominee. You can check the mailer out over at National Journal (PDF); it assures voters that Obama wears a flag pin on his lapel, is a Christian, was sworn in on the Bible, was born in America, and places his hand over his heart when he says the Pledge of Allegiance.

AFL-CIO's Union Veterans Council released its first ad today, "Not Now," which will begin running tomorrow in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

"Every vet respects John McCain's war record. It's his record in the Senate that I have a problem with," Vietnam Veteran Jim Wasser says in the spot. "He wants us to keep spending $10 billion dollars a month in Iraq, just like Bush. That's money we could use to build schools and roads and create needed jobs here at home."

Adds Wasser: "He even took sides with Bush against increasing healthcare benefits for veterans. People should let John McCain know his agenda is not what we need, not now."

As CBS News Chief Political Consultant Marc Ambinder points out, the strategy of the AFL-CIO, which has endorsed Barack Obama, appears to be to link veterans' issues with economic anxieties. "We’re running the ad in towns where good jobs have disappeared because of flawed economic policies and failure to invest in jobs – places where the current economic slowdown is particularly acute," a spokesman said.

Watch it:

The AFL-CIO, the U.S.'s largest labor organization, endorsed Barack Obama on Thursday, paving the way for the organization's money and manpower to get behind the presumptive Democratic nominee.

The unanimous decision from the 56 member union presidents and other member of the executive council was expected once Hillary Clinton dropped out of primary contest with Obama. The organization declined to make an endorsement during the primaries, but a dozen individual unions did endorse Clinton, according to the Associated Press.

"Barack Obama has proven from his days as an organizer, to his time in the Senate and his historic run for the presidency, that he’s leading the fight to turn around America," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in a statement. "We’re proud to stand with Sen. Obama to help our nation chart a course that will improve life for generations of working people and our children."

The unions will now be spending parts of its $200 million war chest to help Obama, as well as get-out-the-vote efforts which are critical to Democratic campaigns. They have also launched a new Web site, Meet Barack Obama.

"Our program is going to be worker to worker and neighbor to neighbor. We’re ready to mobilize. We’re ready to rock and roll. This country and our people are ready for change," said Gerald McEntee, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, who was one of Clinton's top union supporters and is also the AFL-CIO's political committee chair.

The AP reports that between the AFL-CIO and the rival Change to Win labor organization (which has already endorsed Obama), the nation's labor movement plans to spend around $300 million.