'Just more of the same?'

(YOUTUBE.COM VIDEO)

SPOT: "Original"

AIRING IN: Key swing states

SCRIPT: Announcer: "He's the original maverick," followed on the screen by the word, "Really?"

John McCain: "The president and I agree on most issues. There was a recent study that showed that I voted with the president over 90 percent of the time."

Announcer: "John McCain supports Bush's tax cuts for millionaires, but nothing for 100 million households. He's for billions in new oil company giveaways while gas prices soar. And for tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. The original maverick - or just more of the same?"

IMAGES: A snippet of a McCain TV ad, followed by a 2003 interview about his support for Bush. Then a person in a golf cart, with a headline about tax breaks for millionaires; a neighborhood with a headline about nothing for households; a smoky refinery with a headline about billions for oil companies; and of women at sewing machines with a headline about jobs lost overseas. The final shot shows McCain smiling next to a grinning President Bush.

FACT-CHECKER: The spot shows McCain himself bragging about backing Bush. A Congressional Quarterly tally found that McCain voted with Bush's position 95 percent of the time last year. That's the highest percentage during the Bush presidency; it was as low as 77 percent in 2005. McCain wants to extend Bush's tax cuts, which are set to expire in 2010, but those trims benefit all taxpayers, not just millionaires. The ad also hits McCain for favoring $4 billion in tax breaks for oil companies, but it doesn't note that McCain's plan to slice the federal corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent would benefit all businesses, not just oil companies.

ANALYSIS: The ad is trying to rebut Republican McCain's new TV ad declaring himself "the original maverick." McCain is trying to appeal to independents as someone who puts "country first" and is willing to buck his party. Obama wants to saddle McCain with the unpopular Bush administration and to portray him as another Republican looking out for the rich.

FOON RHEE