In new ad, Obama campaign plays defense on energy Loath to allow Republicans to dominate the 2012 energy discussion with attacks, President Barack Obama's campaign responded to coordinated Republican attacks on the administration's energy policy with a new campaign ad of its own on Monday, which also takes aim at Mitt Romney. Why is big oil attacking him? Because he's fighting to end their tax breaks," a voice-over states about Obama in the new commercial. Mitt Romney stood with big oil for their tax breaks. The commercialÂ is airing in the key battleground states of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Virginiaâthe same states where the American Energy Alliance group (which Democrats say is funded by the billionaire oil magnates David and Charles Koch) is running a $3.6 million campaign blasting the president on energy. The campaign's decision to invest directly in this tit-for-tat suggests that gas prices combined with the Solyndra scandal are a real concern for the president's supporters. It also highlights Romney as the campaign's biggest opponent. Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement Monday that "it's no surprise President Obama is spending his soon-to-be $1 billion war chest to attack Mitt Romney and deflect blame for his failure to control gas prices." Saul repeated Republican attacks highlighting Energy Secretary Steven Chu's 2008 statement about the benefits of European-level gas prices. Monday's commercial is only the second television ad to be released by the Obama campaign itself. It is the first television commercial from the campaign to directly identify Romney. More popular Yahoo! News stories: â¢ Santorum's Wisconsin primary campaigning stops short of donning the cheesehead â¢ GSA head Martha Johnson resigns amid reports of lavish training conference on taxpayers' dime, says Washington Post â¢ Obama issues stern language on Supreme Court health care decision Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or add us on Tumblr. Handy with a camera? Join our Election 2012 Flickr group to submit your photos of the campaign in action.