Since the Presidential campaign has taken on an automotive theme -- what with the introduction of the Obama tire gauge -- we thought it only fair to come up with a Republican counterpart: the McCain Dipstick.
Just insert it into the presumptive nominee's campaign coffers, wipe it off, and see how much oil money is there!
The need for the device was made clear by The Washington Post, which pointed out that ever since his flip-flop on drilling for oil in domestic waters, McCain has hit a gusher.
Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling.
Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month -- three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the ban -- compared with $116,000 in March, $283,000 in April and $208,000 in May.
Please note: Patent is pending on the dipstick. R&D on version 2.0 is underway -- to include sensitivity to all fossil fuel contributions -- including coal-to-liquids, so-called "clean" coal, tar sands and oil shale.
(Photo-illustration by Teresa Herrmann)