The aggressive campaign by the American Petroleum Institute, which represents the oil and gas industry, seeks to persuade Congress to lift a moratorium on offshore drilling off the Florida coast and other parts of the country, institute Vice President Jim Craig told the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times.

Senate Democrats and Republicans may push through an energy bill this week that would permit drilling as close as 50 miles off Florida's beaches. It would also let a handful of other coastal states opt in as well.

And it calls for investing $20 billion in developing petroleum-free motor vehicles and extending tax credits for solar and wind energy that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year.

The House may vote on a similar bipartisan initiative this month, said a spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Drilling opponents have not managed to mount a similar advertising blitz, the Times said.

The liberal group Moveon.org and the national Sierra Club both ran limited advertising this summer criticizing Republican Presidential candidate John McCain for saying expanded drilling would lower gas prices only in the short term, "but that's been it," the Times said.