FAIRFAX, Va. (CAP) - Energy is shaping up to be one of the primary issues that voters will be weighing this November, and to combat that, the McCain campaign launched an intensive campaign this week to capture the energy vote with a plan they are calling "A Gusher On Every Plot."
"Reliance on imported oil is weakening our ability to sweep into foreign countries and smack them with the freedom stick. My friends, this I will not allow," McCain said Wednesday at a Victory Rally in Fairfax.
"I aim to make sure that every decent American who wants to put an oil well in their back yard to help us drill drill drill our way to energy independence is rewarded by my administration for doing so," McCain added.
McCain's plan would provide $5000 tax cuts for every new oil well that is constructed during his first term in office, from 2009-2013.
While critics point out that a $5000 break on a $350,000 oil rig will do little to ease the cost of energy for the average American family - while providing a new tax windfall for oil companies - the McCain campaign claims that it is just the incentive to enable thousands of energy-weary Americans to become investors in the area of wildcat drilling.
"Picture Dad, Mom and the 2.3 kids beaming around a shiny metal rig as their first strike hits, their first million showering around them, turning their lawn and blond hair a thick black," says Daniel St. James, McCain's energy advisor. "You have a black, black man running for President. Don't tell me this isn't the American dream writ large."
Another plus for the Republicans is that McCain seems to have found something to do with Sarah Palin, his VP pick. Early information is that she will be taking point on "A Gusher On Every Plot," using her Alaskan oil experience to argue for the program and highlight key points, such as the proposal to build a network of small-scale community pipelines to get oil from front lawns to regional refinery hubs.
"For five and a half years, John McCain tried to dig his way to freedom, and now we're trying to dig a little deeper to bring our own energy freedom to this great country," Palin told the cheering crowd at the rally.
"When God gave the dinosaurs the ability to poop oil 6000 years ago, he certainly didn't intend for us to leave it in the ground," Palin noted. "John McCain and I both say drill drill drill!
"And get a receipt."
- Rich Gray
Contributing Writer