Want votes? Attack gas prices

Lawmakers can count on their ratings to keep dropping as another number rises. That number is the price at the pump.

By the time this column runs, the lowest octane fuel could be at $3 per gallon, maybe a few cents more. Demand naturally increases this time of year, when people ponder their vacation trips, so prices are unlikely to fall anytime soon.

Everyone, from the oil industry CEOs to the local convenience store clerk, is blaming the lack of refinery capacity for the painful petroleum bite on our purses. We dont have anyone to blame but ourselves for that. We buy guzzlers, we dont conserve and while we complain loudly about prices, so far we continue to fork over for filling up.

But oil companies could become a convenient political patsy for Congress, if legislators want to boost their standing.

Remember how prices dropped almost a buck a gallon last fall, when oil companies wanted to help their GOP buddies retain their majorities in both houses of Congress. That should have been even more than an uphill climb than it was, especially when oil companies acknowledged their obscene profits.

It didnt help the Republicans keep control. What it showed was that industry is not only capable but proficient at manipulating prices.

The Democrats waltzed into the leadership of the House and Senate on Iraq war fatigue and scandals. It looks like they are counting on those same things to get them by for the next two years and beyond. Witness the emphasis on setting benchmarks and budget restrictions on the war, the hearings on the politicizing of the Justice Department and the efforts to eliminate spending earmarks and curb the influence of special interests.

But if they want to score some real points with the electorate, they would haul oil industry executives before the harsh light of congressional investigations. Ask those ol boys whether they have started to apply any profits to increasing refinery and drilling capacity or research and development of alternate fuels.

We never will have enough refinery capacity if they keep sitting on profits and rationalizing their lack of new construction by saying environmental regulations make new refineries financially unfeasible.

Someone in Congress needs to get these oily dudes under oath and on television, so they can learn that they cannot have their cake and eat it too.

While theyre at it, the bosses of the legislative branch can deal with automakers on fuel efficiency standards also.

We all get the picture that the war is going badly and the tide is unlikely to turn; we all know about the politicizing of U.S. attorney appointments and terminations. We know we should care about those things and some do. We also know that these battles will continue, as both sides dig in on partisanship more than principle.

It may be selfish but it is also human nature to care more about what affects us personally. We take 3 bucks a gallon pretty personally, and we would be inclined to root and probably vote for those who feel our pain at the pump.