Keith Johnson writing for the WSJ Environmental Capital Blog discusses the good question: Does McCain or Obama win with $4 gas?

Ron Klain writing in the NYT says it is a no-brainer.

“If gas is still more than $4 a gallon on Election Day, there is no way a Republican will continue to control the White House.”

But not so fast! A lot of people blame the Democrats for the self-imposed production limits, and want to lift the ban on offshore drilling as proposed by McCain.

Offshore and Alaskan drilling would not really make a big diff in oil and gas prices for the next decade, but the point is we would be doing something. In politics, perception can be just as good as reality.

Not such a no-brainer after all, is it?

It seems that almost every day there is an editorial urging John McCain to relieve the American people of their high gas price burden. But rather than an endorsement of his gas tax vacation, the average conservative citizen is urging McCain to drill for domestic oil. If he indeed decided to drill for more oil on American soil, he would be embraced by the right.

But how much good would it do? The Wall Street Journall’s Real Time Economics has an article indicating that even if we were to drill in the massive ANWR reserves, it would not be likely to impact gas prices now.

Furthermore, 2008 Central has a humorous bit of an exploitation article on the same issue. In 1985, McCain insisted (very strongly) that offshore oil in states like California should be distributed to Americans on a national level. Now he claims that he wants to do the exact opposite. On top of that, the most optimistic projections for offshore drilling is that it will lower gas prices by eight cents a decade from now.

In the past, McCain has supported initiatives for research into alternative fuels and seems to have a fair grasp on our energy crisis worldwide. In order to maintain that image, he needs to get his act together regarding gasoline.