The political scramble over energy policy has also been evident on Capitol Hill. Even though Congress is in recess for a month, Republicans have been staging a protest on the House floor to spotlight Democratic leaders' decision to put off a vote on energy legislation until lawmakers return in September.
McCain chimed in Monday, calling for Democrats to suspend the vacation until Congress addresses the energy crisis. "Congress should come back into session," he said during a campaign stop in Lafayette Hill, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb. "I am willing to come back off the campaign trail."
A few days ago, a bipartisan coalition of senators responded to public pressure to produce results, not just rhetoric, on rising gas prices: They endorsed a compromise that would expand availability of alternative fuels and preserve the oil-drilling ban off the West Coast while easing restrictions off the East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico.
Polls show that alarm over rising fuel costs and the economic downturn are voters' top concerns, and aides to McCain believe he is whittling into Obama's support by highlighting their differences on how best to cut prices, conserve resources, and cut dependence on foreign oil sources. McCain is visiting the Enrico Fermi nuclear plant near Newport, Mich., today to demonstrate his support for greater reliance on nuclear-generated electrical power.
As recently as last month, Obama said that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve should not be touched except in an emergency. Now his campaign is saying that a tipping point has been reached, and he is calling for releasing light crude oil, which is easier to refine into gasoline, and replacing it later with heavier crude.
Obama's new position is politically advantageous, with its explicit promise of short-term help at the pump. In his speech, he noted that in the past, tapping the reserve has driven down gas prices in as little as two weeks. President Clinton used a similar tactic in 2000 to make oil available at a time of rising prices.
The McCain campaign quickly pounced, calling Obama's shift another example of his willingness to sacrifice principle for political gain.
"Tapping the strategic oil reserve is not a substitute for a real plan to increase supply through additional drilling and nuclear power," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement. "The strategic oil reserve exists for America's national security strategy -- not Barack Obama's election strategy."
