A coal industry front group called the "Americans for Balanced Energy Choices" [1] (ABEC), is one of the lead sponsors for tonight's CNN Democratic presidential debate.

ThinkProgress wonders [2] whether candidates will be grilled on where they stand on the issue of "clean coal" electrical generation - which by all accounts remains the dirtiest form of energy production in the United States.

At least ABEC is honest about who funds them, their website states that, [3] "primary funding for ABEC’s outreach efforts come from America’s coal-based electricity providers." And a list of their supporters can be found on their site here [4].

But any praise for their attempts at disclosure ends there.

Check out the advertisements currently running on their site, set to "Celebrate" by Kool and the Gang. [5] Nowhere is there mention that these ads are bought and paid for, in large part, by a coalition of the largest coal-fired electricity producers in the United States.

What if Peabody Coal had launched this campaign? No doubt there would not be the luster and the appearance of a citizen's driven coalition that the fine folks at ABEC provide for their "supporters."

Back to the presidential campaign.

Just for fun, here's a breakdown of the amounts of money so far received by the top 3 Democrat candidates from the energy and resource sector, according to Open Secrets: [6]

Hilary Clinton [7] - $574,658

Barack Obama [8] - $489,909

John Edwards [9] - $62,306

And just for fun, here's a breakdown of the amounts of money so far received by the top 3 Republican candidates from the energy and resource sector, according to Open Secrets: [6]

Rudy Giuliani [10] - $819,508

Mitt Romney [11] - $635,133

Fred Thompson [12] - $161,704