WASHINGTON, April 5 (UPI) -- Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney stands side by side with big oil companies, a Democratic advertisement in key U.S. election states says.
The American Energy Alliance last week launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign saying U.S. President Barack Obama's "failed policies" are the reason for higher oil and gasoline prices in the United States.
This is despite "the fact that we have 200 years of domestic oil supply" on hand, said the ad running in battleground states New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Florida, Ohio, Virginia and Michigan.
An ad on the campaign Web site for Obama states that groups like AEA are spending lavishly to distort Obama's record on energy.
The Obama ad says green energy production is at historic highs and Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is the candidate "who stood with big oil."
It says oil and gas production under the Obama administration is at an eight-year high. The presidents have noted much of that increase is because of policies enacted by the previous administration.
U.S. politicians are engaged in partisan sniping over energy costs. Energy analysts note oil and natural gas are global commodities influenced in large part by overseas developments, however.
The ad for Obama runs in the same states as the AEA's.
