Sen. Barack Obama plans to take a tour of Pennsylvania starting Friday but in one way, he's already been here as his campaign has already started running television ads.

Check Out the Ad Check Report

One of the ads talks up Obama's refusal to take money from lobbyists, but is that really true?

In nearly every speech, Obama talks about his refusal to take lobbyist money. And that's also the focus of his latest ad. But the ad does not tell the full story about Obama's relationship with lobbyists and special interests.

The ad starts with the true statement that Obama sponsored ethics legislation aimed at Washington lobbyists.

Then, it said, "Now, Barack Obama's the only candidate refusing their contributions because to really reform health care and finally give the middle class a break, we need to rein in special interests. They have not funded my campaign."

That part of the ad is incomplete.

It is true that Obama has refused contributions from Washington lobbyists. But he has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from others in the large law firms that employ those lobbyists.

Records show Obama has gotten $243,000 from employees of Sidley Austin. Its lobbying clients include Bayer, General Electric, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association.

Obama has gotten $202,000 from employees of Skadden ARPS, the firm that lobbies for U.S. Steel and Verizon. He's gotten $87,000 from employees at Alston and Bird, the lobbying firm for Mylan Labs and AT&T.

And he's gotten $76,000 from employees of Greenberg Traurig, lobbyist for carmaker General Motors, gun maker Smith and Wesson and former employer of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was convicted of trying to bribe federal officials.

Obama's contribution records also show thousands coming from registered lobbyists, but they are lobbyists who work in state capitols and not Washington, D.C.

One of them is Harrisburg lobbyist Fred Clark, whose clients include student loan agency PHEAA, as well as Comcast and casino owner Mountaineer Gaming.

Obama has hired several lobbyists to work on his campaign. The campaign said all of them stopped lobbying after they went to work for Obama. And he has taken lots of campaign contributions from CEOs and others connected to companies that do lots of lobbying.

Unlike Obama, his rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from registered lobbyists. She has defended lobbyists, saying they play a part in the political process.

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