Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less…. Say What?

Newt Gingrich is back! Under the guise of being non-partisan, he is campaigning to start domestic oil drilling with his 6-word bumper sticker slogan. Drill Here? Where? Wouldn’t we have to take the time to figure out where exactly we will have to drill? Drill Now?….or in 5-10 years, who knows? Pay Less? Says who? When confronted with the statement that no oil will actually reach our gas tanks for at least 10 years, he responds that maybe it will only be 5 years. When you get into details, the campaign seems to be, Drill Somewhere in America. Drill In 5 or 10 Years. Pay Whatever Oil Companies Charge.

The real part of their proposal that nobody talks about it that it advocated releasing oil from our strategic reserve to immediately increase supply. The idea is that our own domestic drilling to allow us to refill our strategic reserve later.

I’m not necessarily opposed to drilling, but there seem to be far too many false promises floating around.

Words that (will try to) work

Frank Luntz authored the book, Words That Work. In it, he explains to his readers how he used language to help push the 1994 Contract With America.

Now it’s 2008 and battles of language are still going strong.

First, do Republicans support Deep Sea drilling or Off-shore drilling? Deep-sea drilling is believed to sound better to voters, but it hasn’t quite caught on yet.

Second, Unilateral took on a negative connotation after Pres. Bush took us into war with Iraq. Democrats were successful in making this “Bush’s Unilateral War.” The McCain campaign has taken notice. They are now accusing Obama of wanting to make “unilateral” changes to NAFTA. Can one simple word change voters’ minds about this? Maybe.

Lastly, the phrase “Yes we can” has gained popularity as a slogan for Obama. It didn’t originate with him, but it’s his now. The McCain campaign has taken notice. They now talk of McCain’s position on lowering gas prices as “Yes We Can” while Obama’s position is “No We Can’t” I guess that is much simpler than explaining how they are going to give consumer an ounce of relief at the gas pump.

Oregon is Obama country

In the Democratic primary for US Senate Jeff Merkley and Steve Novick debated who supported Obama the most and earliest. Merkley cruised to an easy victory. Now, his GOP opponent, incumbent Senator Gordon Smith is touting his work with Obama. Didn’t he work with McCain? Is he going to vote for Obama? I guess Obamacans really do exist!

In response, the Obama campaign released a statement to clearly demonstrate their support for Democrat Jeff Merkley in his effort to unseat Sen. Smith.