WASHINGTON — As voters steam over gas prices, Republican congressional candidates are bracing for a gusher of ads from now until election day attacking their ties to oil companies.
"What kind of mark has Bob Schaffer made as a politician?" says an ad attacking Colorado's Republican Senate candidate and former congressman. "He's left a definite imprint, accepting over $150,000 in campaign contributions from oil and gas interests and voting in Congress to give oil and gas interests over $13 billion in tax breaks."
Amid the onslaught, the oil industry is increasingly worried about this year's election. Oil executives could face a bigger Democratic majority in Congress and a Democrat in the White House, both set on repealing industry tax breaks and imposing a windfall profits tax.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama supports a tax on windfall profits, while Republican John McCain opposes it.
"We're bracing for the worst," said Jeff Eshelman of the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America, who fears industry arguments will fall on deaf ears in the next Congress. "From the political rhetoric, I'm worried we'll see some really bad choices after the elections."
And more than in years past, the industry's political allies, the bulk of them Republicans, have become prime Democratic targets.
"There's always been a negative association in tying candidates, and especially Republicans, to the oil and gas industries," said Mark Longbaugh, a Democratic media consultant, who added that the connection to oil interests was a special liability this year. "I think the issue is probably the biggest anger point of any issue among the electorate today."
So what's a Republican candidate to do?
"You hunker down and ride it out," said Carl Forti, a former congressional GOP strategist and now executive vice president for issue advocacy at Freedom's Watch, a conservative organization.
About $152 million has been spent for televised political ads focusing on energy, said Evan Tracey of TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG, which tracks political advertising. This year's total will far surpass the amount spent on the issue in 2006, he said.
Among besieged Republicans, some are trying to distance themselves from oil companies.
"In a political race, people will say a lot of things," says an ad for Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.). "They'll say Norm is a rubber stamp for the president. But he's been ranked as one of the most independent senators. They'll say he's in the pocket of big oil. But he voted to take away their special tax breaks."
