Thursday 26 April 2012

0 Conservative group puts millions into Obama energy attack

An independent conservative group launched its latest round of ads Thursday that are set to air in eight presidential battleground states backed by $6.1 million, according to the organization.

The president of Americans for Prosperity said the ad will begin running on Friday on cable and broadcast television stations for two weeks in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia.

Obama energy attack

The 60-second spot criticizes the Obama administration's energy policies and its failure to provide clean energy jobs in the United States.

"You cannot allow or it does not work when an administration is using our tax dollars in pursuit of an ideology, in this case global warming," AFP president Tim Phillips said during a press conference in Washington, D.C.

The White House has promoted what it calls an "all-of-the-above energy strategy" that will decrease American dependency on foreign oil, expand U.S.-based jobs and reduce emissions that it says contribute to climate change and pollution.

But Phillips said President Barack Obama's "almost obsessive focus on global warming" speaks to "this administration's focus on an ideology as opposed to genuinely trying to get this economy moving again."

"American tax payers are paying to send their own jobs to foreign countries," the narrator in the spot said. "Tell President Obama: American tax dollars should help American taxpayers."

Phillips said the ad buy would be accompanied by "hundreds of thousands of dollars" toward grass roots efforts in the targeted states, all of which are expected to be competitive in the next presidential election. AFP Spokesman Levi Russell said there will be two to three events in each state over the next few weeks, a mixture of rallies and town halls.

The Obama re-election campaign responded to the announcement, which it said was backed by "secretive oil billionaires."

"While the President fights everyday to build an economy where everybody gets a fair shot and does their fair share, special interests across the country are mobilizing to buy the election for Governor Romney to try to promote their interests over the interests of the American people," Obama National Press Secretary Ben LaBolt said in a statement.

AFP is a nonprofit group backed by conservative oil billionaires David and Charles Koch, among others, which has donated significant funds toward advertising and advocacy ahead of the November election. Nonprofits like AFP are able to accept unlimited corporate and individual contributions but are not required to disclose their donors.

Thursday's announcement marks the third round of ads from AFP in recent months. The two previous endeavors centered on the failed energy company Solyndra that went bankrupt after receiving government funding.

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