Edelman Flacks for Big Oil

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"With congressional Democrats readying probes into oil companies' profits and eyeing legislation aimed at curbing global warming, the American Petroleum Institute and its K Street allies are looking to assemble a $100 million war chest to rally policy makers and public opinion to their side," reports Peter Stone. "The image and education effort, much of which will be coordinated by the PR firm Edelman, will include expensive television, radio, and print ads, tours of oil patch facilities for lawmakers and opinion elites, and financial contributions to sympathetic think tanks and industry-friendly organizations." API has also been using the services of Wirthlin Worldwide, headed by former Ronald Reagan pollster Richard Wirthlin, as it scrambles "to salvage a reputation suffering amid high gasoline prices and concern about fossil-fuel dependence."