McCain Camp Sees Energy As Winning Issue

(CBS)  This story was written by CBSNews.com political reporter Brian Montopoli.

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If you're looking for someone to blame for high gas prices, John McCain's campaign is happy to help.

In a television ad released by the campaign last week, "Pump," an announcer criticizes Barack Obama for "saying no" to offshore drilling and "independence from foreign oil."

"Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump?," she asks - after which a photo of Obama appears onscreen.

The spot has been derided by USA Today as "baloney" for laying the blame for high gas prices solely at Obama's feet, and Obama responded with an ad of his own in which an exasperated-sounding announcer suggests McCain blaming Obama for gas prices represents "the same old politics."

The McCain campaign has increasingly focused on gas prices and energy in recent days: In addition to two ads discussing the topic (here's the second one, released Wednesday), there have been conference calls to stress the short-term impact of McCain's proposals and a Monday photo op at a Bakersfield, California oil rig. There McCain sang the praises of expanded offshore drilling, which Obama opposes, and once again knocked Obama as "the Dr. No of America's energy future."

Republicans believe that the McCain campaign, which has been criticized for being overly reactive in its battle with Obama, has finally found an issue on which it can successfully go on the offensive.

"This is the first time the Republicans have felt upbeat and optimistic about a major issue in a long time," said Republican strategist Scott Reed. "McCain has framed the issue well, with solutions and a sharp contrast to Obama, and in Congress, Republicans seem to be rallying around this issue. They feel Democrats have boxed themselves in a corner."

"I think it's one of the best issues they have," said GOP strategist Ed Rollins, who ran Mike Huckabee's campaign. "So much in the McCain campaign has been small and sort of nitpicky, and this is a substantive issue that shows that he has strength and some vision, which I think is very, very important."

In a move seemingly designed to help put the issue in the spotlight, President George W. Bush recently lifted the presidential moratorium on offshore drilling - a largely symbolic move since Congress has its own ban. At a press conference Wednesday morning, Mr. Bush pressed the legislative body to allow for drilling to help ease high gas prices.

The American people appear to be moving in McCain's direction on the issue: A Pew survey released at the beginning of this month found that support for energy exploration is at its highest point of the decade. The survey also found that while just 22 percent of liberals said expanded exploration was their top energy priority (ahead of conservation) in February, that figure had jumped to 45 percent by June.

Earlier this month, Democratic strategist James Carville and pollster Stan Greenberg released findings that six-in-ten voters favor McCain's offshore drilling proposal. They suggested Obama and the Democrats "have not yet advanced a compelling narrative" on energy and gas prices.

In addition, support for building new nuclear power plants, another proposal supported by McCain, is at its highest point in more than 30 years - 57 percent of respondents in a recent CBS News/New York Times poll (PDF) indicated they supported building new plants.

Obama's energy plan "would force the oil companies to drill in the areas they've already leased, provide every American family with an immediate energy rebate and a middle-class tax cut worth $1,000, and invest $150 billion in renewable sources of energy that will create 5 million jobs and replace the oil we import from the Middle East by 2025," according to Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan. Obama's new ad speaks of the candidate's plan to "crack down on oil speculators, raise mileage standards and fast track alternative fuels."

In a broad sense, according to Bruce Bullock, the director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University, "the mechanisms that Obama offers are more government oriented, whereas the mechanisms that McCain is talking about tend to be more incentive based towards the market."

The rival campaigns have been squabbling about which candidate offers short-term relief for Americans struggling with high gas prices. Though the McCain campaign acknowledges that offshore drilling won't result in an increase in the oil supply for a number of years, McCain economic advisor Martin Feldstein argued this week that "policies that affect long term-supply, like the McCain strategies for increasing exploration and production...have an immediate impact on today's prices."

The Obama team, meanwhile, dismisses McCain plans as doing nothing "to alleviate the crisis of the moment," in the words of Democratic Senator Bill Bradley, who characterize McCain's proposals as "pandering." In an earlier ad, the Obama campaign tied McCain's energy policy to that of President Bush and suggested McCain is "part of the problem."

Economist Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institution said the McCain camp's argument that McCain's long-term proposals could have a short-term impact on prices is legitimate, though he said his "suspicion is that the impact would be very, very small."

Asked if there were any significant short-term solutions being offered by either candidate when it comes to high gas prices, Burtless said, "If you define a short-term solution as returning the U.S. to the price we were at five years ago, or even one year ago, I don't think there is anything practical on the horizon."

SMU's Bullock said that while both candidates' proposals "have some merit" - he points to Obama's emphasis on investments in alternative energy and McCain's push to increase supply - they are both offering "gimmicks" as well. (Among them, he says, are Obama's proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies and McCain's proposed gas tax holiday.)

"I don't think we can produce our way out of this, and I don't think we can conserve our way out of this," Bullock said.

In the latest CBS News/New York Times poll, voters indicated that they are largely on the same page as the economists, with the majority suggesting that neither candidate's policies will reduce gas prices anytime soon - though Obama had a slight edge over McCain among those who believed the candidates could do so.

Nonetheless, Republicans believe they are winning the perception battle on energy, and both President Bush and Congressional Republicans have begun spotlighting the issue. McCain senior advisor and spokesman Taylor Griffin promised that McCain will continue to press the issue, arguing that Obama "refuses to embrace real solutions."

"It's important for McCain to show his action plan for domestic issues," Reed said. "The rap on McCain is he didn't have much on the economy, but the truth is for the last two months he's pretty much owned the energy issue. He has found a political niche, and he's filled it."
By Brian Montopoli

[juanpagelos6]

BagdadsHere2, WellHell3, MCVent, Rod8upyurbutt - You guys are well on your way to being Rove Jr''s. You send out the scary ideas that ignorant people will latch onto. If any one counters your arguments they are an extreme Liberal. You are ridiculous. A clean environment is not a Liberal idea. When I go down to the James River & flip a senko out & catch a 3 lb smallie, or head into the woods & down a 10 pointer, I am happy. What good are the benjamins if you do not have an environment where you can enjoy the benjamins. You guys sit & eat cheetos in front of your computer. I like republicans who take mass transit b/c they do not feel "entitled" to ride alone in an Expedition to work everyday pay & less than $2 for gas. Entitlements are bull. You guys feel that you are not accountable for anything. Conservatives cut costs in their businesses. We conserve. If other alternatives fuels were sought out years ago, this whole thing would not be an issue. Band aids will not fix this sore. Our Founding Fathers did not waste their resources. You say Brazil is independent b/c of drilling - more like sugar cane. Obama is going to raise taxes and make us a socialist state - yeah right. Reagan was the guy who expanded the AMT to the middle class and he is conservative. McCain is a Liberal punk who should go visit the border of Iraq and Pakistan and then visit Czechoslovakia. Why don''t you guys quit trying to scare people with you bull and use logical conservative arguments.

[lilvinnyb]

Hey grumpass....prices have already dropped since bush lifted the ban. The prices that factcheck is talking about are prices DIRECTLY affected by an increased supply.

Remember, the speculative market works much faster as is EVIDENT by the fact that oil prices dropped on the market after Bush lifted the ban.

By the way, 2030 is much faster than obamas plan...unless we "increase tire pressure" as he wants us to do....what a liberal clown. While china and india are SMART and drilling for oil, the only people on the face of the planet who want to STOP drilling are those liberals, stuck in their 1950''s mentality towards technology.

[lilvinnyb]

Ive always said that once speculators see that we are serious about increasing our own domestic production, the will have incentives to believe that the supply will increase. This causes a "sell off" and prices begin to drop.

After bush lifted the ban, the price on a barrell of oil dropped 11 dollars a gallon over 3 days.

imagine what happens if the democrats actually do whats good for america and lift the ban.

[banders6]

truthmatterz - but atleast McCain is not dumb enough with many reporters standing by with cameras rolling to put a note in a wall and expect no one to get it. Or better yet if you watched the video Barack was so inept that he couldn''t get it into the wall and had to leave it on a ledge, then stand back, then let a man pick it up, then have his staff take it and start a publicity stunt trying to make him look christian. And you want this dummy in the whithouse.

[dnsallday]

I believe John McCain has the best chance of promoting compromise. He has a career history of working the middle ground. Common sense tells me a government lead by Obama will not be reaching out very far.

posted by jefflocke56 at 09:38 AM : Jul 31, 2008
******************************************************** Why do you believe that. According to a number of Republican Senators McCain isn''t the same man that he was in 2000. So I don''t think his history is a good indicator.

From what I have seen the man is prone to temper tantrums when he doesn''t get his way or when he thinks he ins''t getting enough attention.
Frankly I think his oversized ego and his mental instability would make for a very dangerous person in charge.

[dnsallday]

Doesn''t matter if we drill all the way to China, we dont'' have the refinaries to actually produce the oil.
And the oil companys won''t build new refinaries unless they get more of the taxpayers money in the form of subsidies to do it (You see Republicans only believe in welfare, when it benefits them personally).
The Oil Companys together are making about 10,000 dollars a second, so you can''t expect them to make investments for refineries out of their own profits. Not when Republicans are willing to rape the middle class and continue robbing American for them.

[jefflocke56]

We need to realistic about energy. We are approaching the end of the fossil fuel era, but we''re not there yet. Most of the discussion revolves around vehicles with little discussion about home heating. Most homes in the cold climates use oil or natural gas. Solar is not a realistic heating solution above certain latitudes and if a large number converted to electric heat the current system would not support the load. The cost of retrofitting a home to geothermal starts in the 20k range and goes up from there. The bottom line is oil and natural gas are here for a while, like it or not. If we are going to burn oil and gas why not use our own? This is necessary for our economy and security.

We need a multifaceted plan that uses domestic oil and gas, develops state of the art nuclear technology, wind and solar generation, incentives to homeowners to invest in private systems and hopefully US automakers getting the right product to market.

Why is this so hard? The answer is the political climate, the ideological divide in Washington. I believe John McCain has the best chance of promoting compromise. He has a career history of working the middle ground. Common sense tells me a government lead by Obama and Pelosi will not be reaching out very far.

[hasher471]

And this is just ONE oil company!

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil once again reported the largest quarterly profit in U.S. history Thursday, posting net income of $11.68 billion on revenue of $138 billion in the second quarter.
%u2026
The big international oil companies have been criticized for plowing much of their profits back into stock buybacks and other programs to benefit shareholders, as opposed to exploring for more oil which could bring down the price of crude for everyone.
Critics charge the oil companies with deliberately restricting production in an attempt to keep prices high. %u2026
%u2026.Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama wants to tax oil companies at a special rate every time crude goes over $80 a barrel.
Most plans would either use this newfound tax money to fund investments in renewable energy, or give it to low income Americans struggling with high energy prices.
But so far those efforts have been blocked - mainly by Republicans - %u2026
Ref: Exxon posts new profit record
World''s largest publicly traded oil firm makes $11.68 billion in the quarter, but misses forecasts. 7/31/08
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/31/news/companies/exxon_profits/index.htm?cnn=yes

[dnsallday]

McCain Camp Sees Energy As Winning Issue (I wonder why)

Industry Gushed Money After McCain''''s FLIP FLOP on Drilling.

Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and REVERSED his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling.

Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month -- three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the ban

McCain delivered the speech before heading to Texas for a series of fundraisers with energy industry executives, and the day after the speech he raised $1.3 million at a private luncheon and reception at the San Antonio Country Club, according to local news accounts.

"The timing was significant," said David Donnelly, the national campaigns director of the Public Campaign Action Fund, a nonpartisan campaign finance reform group that conducted the analysis of McCain''''s oil industry contributions.

"This is a case study of HOW A CANDIDATE CAN CHANGE A POLICY POSITION IN THE INTEREST OF RAISING MONEY.

[grumpas]

McCain''s ad blaming Obama for not drilling for oil is a blantant lie. According to the experts if the drilling started today we wouldn''t see any change in prices until 2030! I got my information at factcheck.org for all you neocon''s out there who are in denial. Not that any of you have the intelligence to see the truth anyway.