TITLE: “Pocket”
LENGTH: 30 seconds.
AIRING: Running in rotation in the 18 states where Obama is already running ads
SCRIPT: Announcer: “Every time you fill your tank, the oil companies fill their pockets. Now big oil’s filling John McCain’s campaign with $2 million in contributions because instead of taxing their windfall profits to help drivers, McCain wants to give them another $4 billion in tax breaks. After one president in the pocket of big oil, we can’t afford another. Barack Obama – a windfall profits tax on big oil to give families a $1,000 rebate, a president who’ll stand up for you.”
Obama: “I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message.”
KEY IMAGES: Video of drivers pumping gas are intercut with a gas station price list that begins at $4.13 for regular unleaded. When the announcer talks about “one president in the pocket of big oil,” an image of President Bush and McCain together appears on the screen. The foreboding bac kground music turns light as images of Obama campaigning with voters appear while the announcer talks about the Democrat’s energy plan.
ANALYSIS: The ad suggests that at a time of spiking gas prices, McCain has a special tax deal for big oil companies. That isn’t the whole story.
McCain’s proposal to cut corporate taxes isn’t just a break for oil companies, but would affect all U.S. businesses. The Arizona Republican senator wants to reduce the federal corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent as an incentive to keep jobs in the United States.
It is true that McCain has gotten more contributions from oil and gas industry executives – about three times as much as Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. But it’s not necessarily true that the donations were made because McCain has proposed the corporate tax breaks, as the ad claims.
The Public Campaign Action Fund found donations to McCain and the Republican Party spiked after McCa in proposed that the U.S. lift its ban on offshore drilling. It would be harder for Obama to criticize McCain for that position, since the majority of respondents in a recent USA Today/Gallup poll said they would be more likely to support a candidate who would ease those restrictions.
Obama initially opposed the idea, but now says he could support limited offshore drilling as part of a compromise energy package. He maintains offshore drilling is not the ideal solution for high gas prices.
In response to the ad, the McCain campaign points out that Obama voted for a 2005 energy bill that included billions in subsidies for oil and natural gas production. McCain voted against it. Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the Democrat voted for the bill because it included huge investments in renewable energy.
The McCain campaign also pointed out that the ad doesn’t mention Obama has accepted campaign donations of some $400,000 from oil company executives.
