Haridopolos Ignorance on Energy Policy

U.S. Senate candidate Mike Haridopolos wants to open up drilling in the Gulf and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

“We need to move away from these rogue dictatorships whether it be in central or South American let alone in the Middle East,” he said. “This is our time to lead by example. We need to open up those new opportunities in the Gulf and ANWR. Four dollars-plus in gasoline are crippling the middle class. This is the biggest tax hike ever, and Obama has pushed this way because we are relying more and more on these folks in the Middle East. America needs to lead by example on energy production and it starts with drilling in places like ANWR, let alone the Gulf of Mexico.”

Haridopolos' position is political suicide in a general election. Crude oil is still washing up on Florida beaches. Bill Nelson has a strong record against offshore drilling and will hammer Haridopolos on his position. However, I doubt Haridopolos will be the Republican nominee.

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Republicans Lose If They Win On Offshore Drilling

The Republican Party has received vast sums of campaign contributions from the oil industry. the party would be seriously hurting if that money disappeared from campaign coffers. The GOP has had to stump environmentally unpopular policies and misguide the public about the dangers of global warming and offshore drilling.

Groups that opposed greenhouse curbs ramped up. They "settled on the 'science isn't there' argument because they didn't believe they'd be able to convince the public to do nothing if climate change were real," says David Goldston, who served as chief of staff for the House of Representatives science committee until 2006.

John McCain recently shifted his position on offshore drilling. The oil industry is McCain's biggest industry contributor. Barack Obama is raising more money. McCain changed his position in order to stay competitive.

Let's imagine that the Republicans get approval Artic National Wildlife Refuge and offshore drilling. The needed deepwater rigs are 4 to 5 years away. The numbers being floated by conservatives about the oil in ANWR is bogus. No one is certain about the amount oil because not enough exploratory drilling has been conducted. Demands for gas and oil increase because of bad mass transit planning, more automobile owners and China's and India's growing oil dependence. Even conservative experts don't believe McCain's plan would have immediately drop gas prices. That is the problem.

Republicans are basing their campaign strategy on energy policy that failed when Republicans held both houses. The Energy Information Administration reported that drilling in ANWR would only lower fuel costs by pennies. It's bad policy and horrible politics. Republicans fail to realize that politicians maintain office by delivering on promises. The amount of oil in ANWR is uncertain, there aren't deep sea rigs to mass produce oil and production is years away. Voters will pay attention to Republicans failing to drop gas prices. Republicans are screwed whether they lift the drilling bans are not.

Side note: McCain currently does not support drilling in ANWR.