It’s a Gas, Gas, Gas

Here’s a list for you:

1. Missouri (Red)
2. Oklahoma (Red)
3. Texas (Red)
3. Georgia (Red)
5. South Carolina (Red)
6. Arkansas (Red)
7. Ohio (Red)
8. Virginia (Red)
9. Iowa (Red)
10. Minnesota (Blue)
11. Kansas (Red)
12. Mississippi (Red)
13. Louisiana (Red)
14. Tennessee (Red)
15. Kentucky (Red)
15. Alabama (Red)
17. Indiana (Red)
18. New Jersey (Blue)
19. North Carolina (Red)
20. Wyoming (Red)
21. New Mexico (Red)
22. Colorado (Red)
23. Nebraska (Red)
24. Michigan (Blue)
25. Delaware (Blue)
26. Pennsylvania (Blue)
27. North Dakota (Red)
27. South Dakota (Red)
29. Maryland (Blue)
30. New Hampshire (Blue)
31. West Virginia (Red)
32. Montana (Red)
33. Illinois (Blue)
34. Massachusetts (Blue)
35. Florida (Red)
35. Vermont (Blue)
37. Utah (Red)
38. District of Columbia (Blue)
39. Maine (Blue)
40. Wisconsin (Blue)
41. Washington (Blue)
41. Rhode Island (Blue)
43. Oregon (Blue)
44. Idaho (Red)
45. Arizona (Red)
46. Connecticut (Blue)
47. Alaska (Red)
48. New York (Blue)
49. Nevada (Red)
50. California (Blue)
51. Hawaii (Blue)

Any guesses what this order is?

It’s the average price for a gallon of gas as of today, courtesy of AAA, running from least expensive (Missouri at $1.814 a gallon) to most costly (Hawaii at $2.414 gallon).

I don’t want to be paranoid. But the mantra from parts of the left from day one has been oil, oil, oil given the Bush family connections and the great campaign that invented Iraq as the center of terrorism, not to mention the military’s interest in guarding only the Oil Ministry once we invaded Iraq.

When you look at the states this way, it seems to make a case that the Democratic states have to pay more for their gas. Even the ones on coasts where you might imagine shipping was cheaper and more of the refining takes place. After all, in California we know all too well how President Bush’s best friends at Enron took care of (in that Tony Soprano “took care of” kind of way) our electrical needs a few years back. (I won’t get into how that energy debacle, caused by Enron and therefore more or less the Republicans, directly led to the recall of Democratic Governor Gray Davis and the election of the Republican Governator, who most likely would never have won a “real” election that was about competence and issues and not tans and star power. Oh, and there is this from Consumer Watchdog: “Internal Enron e-mails confirm that Arnold Schwarzenegger was among a small group of executives who met with [Kenny-Boy] Lay at the posh Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel in May of 2001, in the midst of California’s energy crisis.”)

Meanwhile back to this last rigged election: It sure might be easier to think the economy was rosy if you paid less for gas, and a bright economy makes Bush the good president he says he is. I’m sure it’s merely coincidence that, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, 81% of the donations from the oil and gas industry in 2004 went to Republicans. That $14 million certainly couldn’t be counted on to give the oil and gas industry anything, right Mr. Vice President?