Gas Price Trends and the Republican Oil Conspiracy
I've been discussing the Republican price manipulation conspiracy theory over in the comments in last week's post. Republican gas price electioneering is an intriguing possibility, but is it possible to find any evidence that this is actually happening? Gasbuddy.com meticulously tracks prices locally and nationwide, which ought to allow us to search for Republican-engineered price drops in hotly contested areas.
In Alabama, a solidly Democratic state with no risk of an overturn, vs. Connecticut, where the 2nd 4th and 5th districts are hotly disputed not to mention the famous Lieberman/Lamont race, the price drops seem comparable:
In Delaware, a solidly Republican state, vs. Florida, where the 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 16th, and 22nd districts are hotly contested, Delaware's gas prices have dropped compared to the national average. Shouldn't the Republican oil barons be giving Florida price cuts?
In Maine, a solidly Democratic state, vs. Louisiana, normally conservative until the botched Katrina response, Louisiana does actually appear to be getting slightly better prices:
In Missouri, where all incumbents are running and none face serious opposition, vs Texas which has become a hotly contested state in the wake of Tom DeLay's resignation combined with a recent ruling against Republican gerrymanders especially the 10th, 15th, 17th, 21st, and 22nd districts, the battleground state doesn't get a price break while the uncontested race gets 20 cents off:
Delaware, where the only congressman is expected to win without incident, vs. California, where between Duke Cunningham's resignation and 11th district Richard Pombo's ties to Jack Abramoff have made their districts (among others) highly contested. Once again the battleground state's prices stay higher compared to the settled election:
In Massachussetts, where all ten incumbents are expected to win. vs. New Hampshire, where the governor's mansion is contested and the 1st and 2nd district's Republican incumbents are being challenged in an especially hostile New England political environment, both markets have followed the national average.
And finally Canada, which has no midterm elections, seems to be tracking gas prices in America, which is filled with evil Republican price manipulators, which is tracking the world price of crude oil, which is not traded freely on the open market by over 100 oil companies but dictated by Dick Cheney himself:
Now of course this "proves" nothing. I simply picked 23% of our states at random, and it's possible that in the 77% remainder there exists an incriminating picture of a shamelessly manipulated pseudo-democracy. That's why I invite you to visit gasbuddy and play a few rounds of "find the conspiracy". From my totally flawed, incomplete information gathered by monkeys and interpreted by someone with no training at all seems to me that if Republicans are attempting to manipulate gas prices to give their candidates an advantage they seem to be very bad at it.
In Alabama, a solidly Democratic state with no risk of an overturn, vs. Connecticut, where the 2nd 4th and 5th districts are hotly disputed not to mention the famous Lieberman/Lamont race, the price drops seem comparable:
In Delaware, a solidly Republican state, vs. Florida, where the 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 16th, and 22nd districts are hotly contested, Delaware's gas prices have dropped compared to the national average. Shouldn't the Republican oil barons be giving Florida price cuts?
In Maine, a solidly Democratic state, vs. Louisiana, normally conservative until the botched Katrina response, Louisiana does actually appear to be getting slightly better prices:
In Missouri, where all incumbents are running and none face serious opposition, vs Texas which has become a hotly contested state in the wake of Tom DeLay's resignation combined with a recent ruling against Republican gerrymanders especially the 10th, 15th, 17th, 21st, and 22nd districts, the battleground state doesn't get a price break while the uncontested race gets 20 cents off:
Delaware, where the only congressman is expected to win without incident, vs. California, where between Duke Cunningham's resignation and 11th district Richard Pombo's ties to Jack Abramoff have made their districts (among others) highly contested. Once again the battleground state's prices stay higher compared to the settled election:
In Massachussetts, where all ten incumbents are expected to win. vs. New Hampshire, where the governor's mansion is contested and the 1st and 2nd district's Republican incumbents are being challenged in an especially hostile New England political environment, both markets have followed the national average.
And finally Canada, which has no midterm elections, seems to be tracking gas prices in America, which is filled with evil Republican price manipulators, which is tracking the world price of crude oil, which is not traded freely on the open market by over 100 oil companies but dictated by Dick Cheney himself:
Now of course this "proves" nothing. I simply picked 23% of our states at random, and it's possible that in the 77% remainder there exists an incriminating picture of a shamelessly manipulated pseudo-democracy. That's why I invite you to visit gasbuddy and play a few rounds of "find the conspiracy". From my totally flawed, incomplete information gathered by monkeys and interpreted by someone with no training at all seems to me that if Republicans are attempting to manipulate gas prices to give their candidates an advantage they seem to be very bad at it.