Drill team

Energy | High prices at the pump are changing the politics of domestic oil extraction and handing Republicans a potentially hot issue for the fall campaign | Mark Bergin

With every upward tick of the gas pump price gauge, American consumers grow more desperate for relief and less enamored with environmental causes. Dropping $70 for a tank of fuel that cost $35 less than two years ago has proved a powerful agent for change in the political winds. Many Republicans believe the nation is now ready to reconsider a 27-year-old blockade to offshore oil drilling.

GOP presidential candidate John McCain stands among that lot, throwing his weight behind ending the drilling ban in a speech to Houston oil executives this month. McCain's reversal of his long-standing opposition to offshore exploration mirrors the progression of many U.S. voters and could prove politically expedient.

Nevertheless, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama blasted the Arizona senator for not taking the long view: "It's another example of short-term political posturing from Washington, not the long-term leadership we need to solve our dependence on oil." Obama favors a windfall profits tax on oil companies and greater federal investment in renewable energy sources, a strategy more in line with public opinion from two years ago when gas prices first began their historic climb.