Adwatch: Obama responds to Clinton ad on oil industry money

4/16/08

TITLE: "Dime"

LENGTH: 30 seconds.

AIRING: Pennsylvania.

SCRIPT: Announcer: "Across Pennsylvania families are struggling. What's Hillary Clinton's answer? The same old politics. Misleading negative ads. The truth? It's Barack Obama who's taken on the oil companies, worked to strip away their tax breaks as they run up record profits, and demanded higher gas mileage standards. And Obama's the only candidate who doesn't take a dime from oil company PACs or lobbyists. And that's change we can believe in.

Obama: "I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message."

KEY IMAGES: A family standing on a doorstep, followed by a still photo of a fierce-looking Clinton at a podium. Video of Obama walking on a factory floor, talking to voters, speaking at a rally. Final still shot of Obama in front of the White House.

ANALYSIS: This commercial tries to counter a new Clinton campaign ad that disputes a claim, made in an earlier Obama ad, that the Illinois senator does not take campaign contributions from oil companies. The Clinton ad noted that candidates are prohibited by law from taking money directly from oil companies but says Obama had taken contributions from oil company executives.

Obama's ad seeks to depict Clinton as an old-style Washington politician more interested in negative attacks than in solving problems facing ordinary voters. It's a variation on the same argument Obama has consistently used against Clinton throughout the campaign: that she is a creature of the past.

Still, the ad doesn't dispute the substance of Clinton's argument — that Obama has taken thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from oil executives. And it doesn't really back up the claim that he has "taken on" oil companies, except to give examples of legislation the Illinois senator has supported.

Obama does accept money from executives and other employees of oil companies and two of his fundraisers are oil company executives. As of Feb. 29, Obama's presidential campaign had received nearly $214,000 from oil and gas industry employees and their families, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Analysis by Associated Press writer Beth Fouhy