MCCASKILL: EASLEY, BILL WERE AGAINST GAS TAX CUT [View All]

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MCCASKILL: EASLEY, BILL WERE AGAINST GAS TAX CUT

From NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones


In yet another example of the Obama campaign pushing back hard on the gas tax holiday issue, Obama supporter Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) hosted a conference call to highlight past opposition to such a holiday from Clinton supporters, including North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley and her own husband.

McCaskill, who is campaigning in North Carolina today, quoted Easley who two years ago called a cut in the gas tax a "subsidy for oil companies" and added that less than two weeks ago he said, “people need to be told the truth about it,” because such a holiday would not necessarily result in savings.

The campaign sent out an audio link to the governor's more recent comments. She also said the former president Clinton also agreed with Obama at one point in time about how short-sighted a gas tax holiday would be and said it was noteworthy that the Clinton campaign had not been able to produce experts who backed her proposal, arguing that when promoting an economic policy it was important to have at least someone who knows about economics agree with you, unless you never planned for your proposal to pass and were simply trying to get votes.

Kitchen-table issues like high gas prices have increasingly been the focus for both candidates as they try to win over voters who are struggling economically.

Obama has hit his rivals consistently over the past several days for supporting the tax holiday and his campaign sent out a memo on the matter during the conference call, a bid to drive home its argument that the senator is not "out of touch" with voters for refusing to back a plan that would save them little, is not supported by experts and was unlikely to pass before summer.

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http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/03/977494.aspx