Better Mood at the Gas Pump. What About the Voting Booth?

On election day, will voters see their gas tanks as half full or half empty?

Gasoline prices have plummeted in the last month, dropping by nearly 25 percent since mid-July, and despite a recent uptick in crude oil prices, most energy experts still expect the price of gasoline to fall a bit further by November.

Six weeks from the midterm elections, the falloff is comforting the Republican majority up for re-election in Congress, limiting the impact of a potentially damaging issue. But Democrats hope to gain power on Capitol Hill, in part, by hitting on the toll that high energy costs have taken on American consumers and trying to draw connections to what they see as the Bush administration’s kowtowing to big oil interests.

A gallon of regular gas now averages $2.33, after rising above $3 in August. But given that even the current lower prices are higher than was common just a couple of years ago, the question of who will benefit politically from the drop is still hotly disputed.

“Nobody thinks $2.50 a gallon is cheap; it’s still expensive,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois, who is leading the effort to win a majority in the House. “Guess what? Republicans may be relieved from a political standpoint but their voters a

The sudden decline has also ignited suspicions that the Republican administration and giant oil companies conspired to cut gasoline prices for electoral gains.