Oil drilling issue hot political topic

• By SARAH CHACKO
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Aug 5, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The debate raging in Washington over domestic oil drilling has become one of the first campaign topics among those vying for congressional seats in Louisiana in the fall.

Republican candidates and political groups say Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate talk about their efforts to lower gasoline prices but have nothing substantial to show for their words.

Democratic incumbents are warding off attacks with their voting records, new legislative proposals and requests to leadership to open discussion on the issue.

Offshore oil drilling already is the subject of a number of campaign commercials that many expect to only increase as the congressional elections draw closer.

Six congressional seats are being contested in the fall in Louisiana. The primary election, to select the candidates from each party, is Sept. 6. A runoff election is scheduled for Oct. 4 if no clear winner emerges in the party primary.

The general election, the day of the presidential election, is Nov. 4, and will pit candidates from each recognized political party and those without party affiliation.

Ed Patru, spokesman for Freedom’s Watch, which he calls a conservative political group, said his organization will be relentless during this election cycle in holding “so-called conservatives” accountable for not demanding a debate on domestic drilling, which is being blocked by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

“Gas prices and concern about energy are the No. 1 issues in the country right now,” Patru said.

Republicans and Democrats agree that domestic drilling is not the only solution to the nation’s energy crisis.

But Kirby Goidel, a political science professor at LSU, said most people do not want to buy hybrid cars or succumb to other alternatives offered as solutions to rising gasoline prices.

“How are you going to address the problem of rising gas prices, and right now Republicans have a straight answer to it and Democrats don’t,” Goidel said. “From what I can tell, it’s clearly working at this point.”

U.S. Rep. Don Cazayoux, D-New Roads, and one of his opponents, state Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, both said they understand that in Louisiana the energy crisis is more than the “pain at the pump.” It will affect businesses and jobs dependent on the drilling industry, they said.

State Rep. Michael Jackson, No Party-Baton Rouge, is also running for election to Cazayoux’s 6th Congressional District seat.