Yesterday, BP executives appeared before two Senate committees to testify about the oil spill in the Gulf - and we provided you some background.

In the wake of the Senate Republicans' vote against cloture in the confirmation of Deputy Interior Secretary nominee, David J. Hayes, the Public Campaign Action Fund issued a press release detailing the campaign contributions made by Big Oil to members of the U.S. Senate.

Few issues have dominated an election like oil and energy did this summer. From foreign policy, to environmental protection, to the economic concerns of the middle class, candidates all over the country devoted a great deal of time to the problem of rising demand for oil and its environmental costs. Over the summer, Sen. Mitch McConnell joined in, observing that “there’s also little doubt … that the single most important issue facing Americans at the moment is the high price of gas at the pump.”[1]

Public Campaign Action Fund's Campaign Money Watch came out with a new ad highlighting Colorado Senate candidate Bob Schaffer's connections to Big Oil. Both Colorado Independent and PolitickerCO have reported on it.

Here's David Donnelly on the ad:

The oil industry is reporting record profits as consumers empty their wallets at the pump, so why is Senator John McCain (R-AZ) suddenly backing policies like offshore oil drilling that do nothing to help gas prices today (or the environment tomorrow), but stand to make Big Oil a handsome profit down the road?

Public Campaign Action Fund's project, Campaign Money Watch, has been doing extensive research into Senator John McCain's (R) recent reversal on the offshore oil drilling ban, and what a flood of contributions from the oil industry may have had to do with it.

The Washington Post is doing a series all this week on the oil situation: rising demand, rising prices, environmental concerns, the whole messy debacle. Right next to the first article in that series was this piece about some fishy timing around Sen. John McCain's (R) reversal on the offshore oil drilling ban, and an influx of campaign contributions from the oil industry.

Experts will tell you that it would be years before American consumers would seen any benefit from the proposed offshore oil drilling President Bush is attempting to push through Congress. So why is Senator John McCain (R) pushing the idea on the campaign trail as a solution to rising gas prices? ThinkProgress speculates on McCain's change of heart -- and the money he's taking in from the oil and gas industry.

Wait, is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) combating legislation to create new carbon emission standards because it'll hurt oil company profits, or is he fighting the bill as a political maneuver to get revenge for Democrats holding up judicial nominations? When fighting legislation to make corporate interests happy, it's so hard to keep those flimsy excuses straight.

Gear up for Big Oil vs. The Earth: Part 8 Bajillion. Congress is getting ready to push new, bipartisan legislation requiring new caps on industrial emissions, but President Bush and Big Oil, drawing the cloak of "economic hardship" firmly about themselves, are vowing to kill the bill. When facing a choice between corporate profits and...the earth and all its inhabitants, it's good to know our leaders have their priorities straight.