Republicans Attack Kaine, Obama On Energy Policies

At a park-and-ride lot off U.S. 17 in Stafford County, state Republicans criticized the Obama Administration and U.S. Senate hopeful Tim Kaine for failed energy policies that have resulted in higher gas prices.

U.S. Senate candidate George Allen's wife, Susan Allen, led the charge today. She was joined by Sen. Bryce Reeves, Del. Mark Dudenheffer, Stafford County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Susan Stimpson and a few commuters. She said her husband has a plan that would help small business and improve the country's energy position.

Gas prices are skyrocketing and the average price now is $3.89 a gallon, more than 30 cents higher from a month ago. The press conference today was across the highway from a gas station that had the cheapest prices in the area at $3.79 cents a gallon for low-octane gasoline.

"The current administration has not helped in creating the policies to allow us to use our resources to help bring the prices down and it is affecting everybody in their every-day life and we understand this," Susan Allen said.

The Republicans at the press conference today all support offshore drilling and the Keystone Pipeline project from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Pres. Obama has said that Republicans were trying to force him to make a decision quick on the pipeline project but he wanted to conduct more reviews after some complained about the route of the pipeline.

"Hey listen, I don't think there is anybody standing here today that doesn't want to go out and develop green energy, but the reality is we have assets that are available to us and we have a known process to get those assets and we need to be exploring that and the holdup from the federal government and the Obama Administration and how that hinders us is reflective in the gas prices that you have," Reeves said.

The Virginia General Assembly is in special session to negotiate a two-year budget plan, and Reeves compared the process with the Democrats to "hostage negotiations." Reeves said it is Democrats' fault that the budget does not include any support for offshore drilling projects.

The George Allen campaing also announced today a new website it created called "Too Much At The Pump" that is a gas price calculator.

Brian Coy, the communications director for the Democratic Party of Virginia, was at the press conference today. He said that Virginians are smarter than the George Allen campaign thinks they are, and they know that domestic oil production is at an eight-year high. Obama's new vehicle fuel economy rules will result in 2.2-million barrels a day less in consumption, too.

"This is more of the same Washington-style empty rhetoric demagoguery that got George Allen bounced out of the Senate in the first place," Coy said about the press conference.

Obama said today in Oklahoma that his administration is not suppressing domestic oil production. Bloomberg reports today that Obama said he will streamline federal permitting for projects such as the TransCanada pipeline that will bring oil to refineries on the Texas coast.

Coy said Republicans are also falsely accusing Kaine of not supporting offshore drilling.

"I've long supported exploration for offshore energy options as a bridge while we move America toward a low-carbon energy future," Kaine has said. "The legislation introduced by Senators Webb and Warner is a reasonable extension of the policy I signed in 2006 as Governor and I applaud them for their leadership on this issue."

How Did They Get There?

Sen. Bryce Reeves: Chevrolet Suburban, driving alone

Susan Allen: Ford Expedition, one passenger

Del. Mark Dudenheffer: Ford Explorer Sport Trac XLT truck, one passenger

Susan Stimpson: Volvo wagon, driving alone