WASHINGTON -- Obama for America began a nationwide television ad campaign Wednesday afternoon that was telling both for the places it will air and for what it says about the re-election team's worries.
The spot, titled "Unprecedented," highlights the president's championing of clean energy despite attacks from "secret oil billionaires" who "fact-checkers say are not tethered to the facts."
The footnotes the campaign provides to substantiate the TV spot point to the Koch brothers as the billionaire culprits and the attacks against Solyndra as the fact-checked material.
That these are the focus for the president's political advisers is surprising, if not a touch defensive. Energy debates have been vastly overshadowed by economic issues.
But a top Obama aide told The Huffington Post earlier in the week that the purpose of the ad campaign is to push back against attacks on the president that are being launched by third-party groups, which have been homing in on Obama's energy policies.
The 30-second ad is running in Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin, all swing states. There was no immediate word from the campaign as to how much money was behind the spot.
Full disclosure: My wife works for the administration on issues that include Solyndra.