I've just confirmed that Progessive Media U.S.A. -- the independent group that was formed to great fanfare by David Brock to bludgeon McCain with ad spending before Obama put the kibosh on such outside expenditures -- has now reconstituted itself as a new group devoted to researching and tracking John McCain.

The newly formed group, called ProgressiveAccountability.org, reflects the efforts of such outside groups to adapt to the new landscape Obama has created in Democratic presidential politics -- one in which outside Dem ad spending has been effectively snuffed in service of centralizing the Democratic message through the Obama campaign.

The new group -- a joint project of John Podesta's Center for American Progress Action Fund and Brock's Media Matters Action Network -- will have approximately 20 paid staffers and is headed by Tara McGuinness, formerly connected with MoveOn.org. It won't spend any money on ads, but will devote significant resources on digging into McCain's record and policy proposals.

The group also has on-staff trackers that will film McCain at every public event and post the footage on the group's Web site.

Interestingly, the treasure trove of research and months of tracking footage that had already been collected by Brock's group have now been posted on the site, too -- another reflection of the ongoing search by such groups for a way to be useful in a general election at a time when outside ad spending has been nixed by Obama.

"We track McCain and his policies and will post literally the footage of every event he does," said Jennifer Palmieri, communications director for the CAP Action Fund. "We're creating an excellent McCain resource."

The group does indeed promise to offer a useful trove of info. Take a look.