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The prolonged Democratic race has given John McCain relative freedom to lay the groundwork for his general election campaign while his opponents are busy bloodying one another. For his media team, that has meant pre-emptively defining his candidacy through a series of ads depicting McCain as a politically independent war hero.

But while the Democratic candidates are too distracted to knock back a rising McCain, several liberal advocacy organizations have begun stepping into the void.

One new TV spot (subscription) that debuted today on national cable news, from environmental group Friends of the Earth, goes straight for one of McCain's bedrock political strengths: the perception of him as a "maverick" candidate. "If you think John McCain opposes pork barrel spending, think again," an announcer says, accusing the Arizona senator of supporting an environmental bill that "gives a trillion dollars to corporate polluters."

"Senator McCain throughout the campaign has been trying to make it seem like he's a moderate on the environment," said Friends of the Earth spokesman Nick Berning. "But his actions haven't been consistent with his rhetoric. We're going right after that image to put pressure on him, because we do want him to be a maverick on the environment."

Although the group is holding the fire to McCain, its real objective is to defeat the Lieberman-Warner energy bill mentioned in the ad, Berning said. Not so a new buy from Progressive Media USA, which is running a classic attack spot in the Washington, D.C., area charging that McCain will merely continue President Bush's policies.

Splicing together footage of McCain and Bush speaking about the economy, the ad closes with the words, "Same Old Politics" -- a simple tagline, but one that could be devastating in an election year already tuned to the key of "change." The ad's efficacy, however, will be severely curtailed by the limited investment behind it -- the Washington Post puts the figure at just $7,000 -- unless it can win earned media attention on the Internet and cable news.