"It's so troubling to see the Obama campaign running ads in swing states promoting coal"

To avoid directly attacking the President — whose energy platform is more appealing to environmentalists than Romney’s — the group’s petition blames the campaign for the ad: “We need President Obama to overturn a decision by his campaign to run [the] TV ad.”

But this is not President Obama’s first coal-friendly ad. In August, he released a 60-second radio spot in Ohio.

“Ohio coal jobs are up 10%,” the ad boasts. “Obama’s also made one of America’s largest investments ever in clear coal energy, a $5 billion effort to create the next generation of coal-fired plants.”