Beaten down by coal states worried he wants to kill "old energy," President Obama's reelection campaign is going on the offensive to promote his support for "clean coal," even paying to have their coal site appear prominently on Google search results.

It's a major step for the campaign which didn't even mention clean coal until the president was embarrassed in the West Virginia Democratic primary when an Texas inmate took 40 percent of the vote.

After that occurred, the campaign featured clean coal on their "All of the Above" energy strategy.

Clean coal refers to the technology of capturing pollution, not the actual coal.

The Google search campaign has an advertising trigger that clicks when a user types in "clean coal." On most searches, it comes up after an advertised link from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

The campaign wouldn't comment on their digital strategy.

While he has pushed green technology, Obama is sensitive to criticisms that he isn't promoting home grown energy and he's trying to change that impression in coal states.