As the Kerry campaign gets more and more desperate, seeing each new line of attack turned away, I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised to see them gravitate toward the black hole of Michael Moore: Kerry Ads Draw on Saudis for New Attack on Bushes. (Hat tip: Cindy.)

Senator John Kerry and the Democratic Party introduced two new advertisements this weekend that criticize President Bush’s administration as giving the family “special favors” and as having an overreliance on Saudi Arabia for oil.

And the Media Fund, a Democratic group, said yesterday that it would spend $6.5 million to run advertisements hitting the Saudi theme still harder in Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin during the next couple of weeks.

Officials with the Media Fund said they decided to do so after a test run in St. Louis late last month produced what they said were unexpectedly good results with voters.

The line of attack is reminiscent of “Fahrenheit 9/11,” the anti-Bush documentary by Michael Moore that highlights what it call Mr. Bush’s ties to the Saudi royal family.

Mr. Kerry’s new advertisements imply that ties between the president and the Saudis have caused Mr. Bush to take a slack line against the Saudis on oil prices - a message Kerry aides say they hope will resonate particularly well in the days before Mr. Kerry’s Friday debate on domestic issues with Mr. Bush.

“The Saudi royal family gets special favors, while our gas prices skyrocket,” an announcer says in one spot as the screen flashes a picture of Crown Prince Abdullah. In another, Mr. Kerry says, “I want an America that relies on its own ingenuity and innovation, not the Saudi royal family.”

Tad Devine, a senior strategist for Mr. Kerry, said in an interview: “The heart of their policy is to benefit the powerful and the privileged. Bush is beholden to powerful interests and not the American people.” [Whereas, Kerry and spouse are privileged and powerful.—ed.]

Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for Mr. Bush, said: “It’s the mainstreaming of Michael Moore. What’s unusual is that conspiracies would be adopted as mainstream messages by John Kerry, who’s running for president of the United States.”