Muckraker: Grist on Politics

While the drumbeat for more domestic drilling is unlikely to get additional oil flowing anytime soon, it has increased the flow of cash to GOP presidential candidate John McCain. McCain changed his position on offshore drilling last month, calling for coastal areas to be opened to exploration, and since then he has been campaigning hard on the issue.

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According to The Washington Post, McCain’s shift has proven lucrative:

Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling.

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Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month — three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the ban — compared with $116,000 in March, $283,000 in April and $208,000 in May.