September 19, 2006
EVERY 10 CENTS IS 1 PERCENTAGE POINT:
Prices at the pump keep tumbling (James R. Healey, 9/18/06, USA TODAY)
Gasoline prices continue to tumble briskly, dropping Monday to a U.S. average of less than $2.50 a gallon for the first time since March.Service stations even are beginning old-fashioned gas wars to avoid losing customers to price-cutting rivals.
"Traders were racing to see how high they could take it. Now, retailers are racing to see how low. It's crazy," says Mike O'Connor, president of the Virginia Petroleum, Convenience and Grocery Association.
Poll finds rebound in Bush approval (Jill Lawrence and Susan Page, 9/18/06, USA TODAY)
Amid falling gas prices and a two-week drive to highlight his administration's efforts to fight terrorism, President Bush's approval rating has risen to 44% in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. That's his highest rating in a year.The poll also showed likely voters evenly divided between Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress, 48%-48%.
Ge it under $2 a gallon by Election Day and the President will be at his 50% ceiling where he's added defied historical norms by adding congressional seats in the last two elections. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 19, 2006 8:07 AM
$2.64 - and I didn't check Sam's or Costco yet.
Falling like a rock, but we'll see what the war of words brings today.
Posted by: Sandy P at September 19, 2006 9:12 AMGiven the pattern of hurricanes this season, and which party and which politicians it's benefitting, I'm starting to believe if Karl Rove really doesn't have a weather machine, this must be Gaia's way of telling Al Gore to shut up, because she's sick of all his rantings about global warming.
Posted by: John at September 19, 2006 9:18 AMIt's a good thing that the West doesn't really have that much on the plate as far as elections are concerned. Gas price drops are taking their time here in Denver: $2.75 at most Conoco stations.
Posted by: Brad S at September 19, 2006 10:09 AM$2.01 foe Regular here in Cleveland yesterday.
Posted by: sam at September 19, 2006 10:11 AMThis recent polling data tells me that voters have a clear perspective on the war in Iraq...perhaps more cogent than either Party. They feel it is being handled poorly, they know what a civil war looks like, they believe Congress has failed to do its part in guiding and overseeing the executive branch, and they realize that the notion of exporting democracy to the Middle East is a Bush Doctrine that fails to recognize the realities in the region. Finally, they believe that Middle East stability is important and that a withdrawal that leaves Iraq in chaos may well be detrimental to the United States.
That, my friends, is one spot on analysis and suggests that voters have discerned fact from fiction with an impressive demonstration of acuity. Perhaps both parties will someday learn that the truth is, in the final analysis, the most powerful campaign strategy available. Don't hold your breath.
Read more here:
Posted by: Daniel DiRito at September 19, 2006 12:27 PMThe even split in the generic congressional is the real news. After all, Bush probably won't run again, unless a constitutional amendment passes real quick.
My guess: the 2006 election will be a snooze. A shift of a few seats in each house, with the Repubs keeping control of both. Neither party seems to have much of an edge now, which means the incumbents win.
By the way, $2.21 in DFW.
Posted by: Casey Abell at September 19, 2006 12:31 PMIf gas is over three dollars we're losing the war. Under two we're winning.
Posted by: oj at September 19, 2006 12:51 PMOJ:
Because we're finally getting the cheap gas the Democrats say we fought it for, eh?
Posted by: Matt Murphy at September 19, 2006 2:29 PMBecause the war doesn't matter.
Posted by: oj at September 19, 2006 2:36 PMCongress has failed to do its part in guiding and overseeing the executive branch...
er Daniel, congress isn't tasked to guide and oversee the executive. As per the Constitution, the three branches of government are separate each with its own particular duties and responsibilities.
It's easy to be confused because the three branches were for so many years controlled by the left who used the judiciary to make laws instead of the legislature and powerful leftwing congresscritters dictated to weak presidents that one might suppose that congress could oversee the executive.