The nation’s leading drug makers have underwritten the largest political issue ad campaign on television this election season, spending $13.1 million in the past five weeks on TV spots praising members of Congress who voted to expand a popular federal-state health insurance program for lower-and middle-income children, the Center for Public Integrity reports on its web site.

The ads are paid for by PhRMA and name some politicians locked in tight races, some who are coasting to reelection, and some who are not even running, CPI notes. A spokeswoman for the non-profit running the ads, America’s Agenda: Health Care for Kids, says the idea is not to influence races, but to keep the State Children’s Health Insurance Program at the top of the legislative agenda. So far, the group has singled out 15 House members and 13 senators who voted in favor of expanding SCHIP.

“These are not campaign ads in any way,” she tells CPI. “We’re singling out people who voted on SCHIP in the past who we believe may in some cases be under pressure to change their vote. This is really an issues advertising campaign.” The commercials show photos of the lawmakers and note that they “helped pass health care coverage for uninsured children,” and urge viewers to call and tell the member of Congress “to keep fighting for our kids.”

The SCHIP expansion that failed last fall would have added $7 billion a year to the $5 billion-a-year program, but President Bush issued a veto after arguing the move would push people with private insurance into the government plan, CPI writes. Why does PhRMA care? The industry supported the bill because people with insurance are more likely to visit a doctor, who is more likely to prescribe a med.