'Independent' Ads Tout McCain on Energy

WASHINGTON -- The latest effort to step around federal campaign spending limits made its debut Sunday with the broadcast of advertisements purchased for $3 million by the Republican Party for the benefit of presidential candidate John McCain. OnMessage Inc., a Virginia-based company with Republican ties, rolled out television ads in the battleground states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, touting Sen. McCain's backing of a gasoline-tax holiday and expanded oil drilling off the U.S. coast. Sen. McCain's Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, has rejected both ideas, saying neither would do much to help most Americans. OnMessage said in a... [read full story]