Both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama are blanketing the airwaves with ads in advance of next week's presidential primary. In AdWatch, WSBT News examines an ad by Obama that claims he doesn't take money from federal lobbyists.

“I got in this race to change how business is done in Washington,” Sen. Obama says in the ad. “I said very early on, we are not going to take PAC money, and we are not going to take money from federal lobbyists.”

We found that statement needs clarification. The key word here is 'federal.'

Professor Sean Savage with St. Mary's College says while it is true Sen. Obama is not taking money from federal lobbyists in this campaign, that's not the whole story.

“He has some very wealthy, politically influential lawyer lobbyists supporting his campaign,” said Savage. “Not just giving the maximum amount of individual money to Obama, but also from their various business and political associates, family members.”

And an analysis of campaign finance records by numerous news organizations shows he has taken money from people who lobby on the state level.

Clinton pointed this out in an exclusive interview with WSBT’s Cindy Ward.

“Then he came back and said, 'I don't take money from PACs and lobbyists,'" she said. "He took $2 million during the course of his career from PACs and lobbyists."

But according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Clinton has taken far more money from lobbyists in both of her senate campaigns and her presidential campaign. Clinton has defended those ties.

“It has kind of a strange, hairsplitting, lawyerly logic to it,” Savage said. “To sort of say that wealthy lobbyist are citizens and voters and Americans just like truck drivers and nurses and school teachers and other people who don't have that kind of money, and can't afford even if they wanted to, to give that much to me.”

The Obama campaign has said Obama's refusal to take federal lobbyist money isn't a perfect solution or symbol, but it does reflect his record of trying to change the way Washington does business. On the whole, contributions from lobbyists and PACs make up only one percent of the total number of contributions in the presidential campaign.

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