Bread and circus!
Posted on 08/20/2006 10:25:18 AM PDT by SLB
RADCLIFF — Congressional candidate Mike Weaver’s gas discount Wednesday was close to being a stunt heard ’round the world.
An Associated Press article about his $1.20-a-gallon gas sale at Marathon Food Mart appeared on newspaper and television Web sites from the Los Angles Times to England’s Guardian Unlimited and ABC News. It also was the topic of blogs across the country.
“It’s a lot more coverage than I thought I would ever get,” said Weaver, a Democrat running against Republican incumbent Ron Lewis for Kentucky’s 2nd District seat. “I think it gave me a lot more name recognition.”
Political analyst Larry J. Sabato said the event to “a certain degree” will help Weaver’s campaign. “Voters are looking for scapegoats on gas prices, and he’s pointing to his opponent while providing a spoonful of sugar with the discounted gas.”
Weaver, who spent $1,510 to cover the discount, chose the $1.20 price because that was the cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gas when Lewis took office in 1994. Weaver also said he wanted to help cash-strapped working families.
“This was a creative, unusual stunt that capitalized on the voters’ surly mood about gas prices, and sure enough, the cameras followed,” said Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
In response, Lewis has asked the U.S. Attorney’s office to investigate the event as vote buying.
Sabato doubts it would be considered vote buying, but Weaver could cross a line if he decides to do it again, because motorists would receive a “very tangible, financial benefit” to vote for him, he said. “It’s a gray area in the law, and Weaver probably won’t want to push his luck. As a one-time stunt, it paid off big and made his point.”
Weaver has no plans to sponsor another discount, at least anytime soon.
And he said as of Saturday he hadn’t been contacted by the authorities, and he doesn’t expect to be. Weaver said he checked out the legality of the event beforehand. And it had been “already tried and tested” in a North Carolina congressional campaign.
He thinks too much of the focus has been on the giveaway itself and not enough on energy issues, such as mandates for efficient fuel use and incentives for ethanol and biodiesel production.
Lewis — who also supports development of alternative sources of energy — said he wasn’t the first to bring up the possibility it was vote buying. Reporters did too, he said.
The congressman also pointed out how some motorists receiving the discount seemed swayed toward voting for Weaver in November because of the discount.
As for how the media attention will affect the race, Lewis said, “Whether it’s a good publicity stunt or whether it’s not, that has to be determined by the people who look at it.”
Those who have looked at it have not been without humor.
Here’s a post on the pro-Democrat blog, bluenecks: “Maybe Lewis should have gotten his gas at Weaver’s station and used his savings to buy a clue.”
And another post on conservative Free Republic: “You can fuel all of the people some of the time, and you can fuel some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fuel all of the people all of the time.”
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo!)
Gawd, that's post of the year.
KY Ping for vote buying.
Lewis should be able to hit this one out of the park, however. The approach should be "Gas price? yeah. let's talk about that. Which party has stonewalled an Energy bill that would actually accomplish something? Who stands in the way of much-needed refinery capacity? Need I mention ANWR? Which party pushes for an ever-changing crazy-quilt of formulations? Which party empowers leaders like Chavez to wreak havoc on the supply side? Let's talk about Weaver's ability to buck his party when legislation comes up again. The real answer is that unless Weaver increases your taxes by dollars to give you a rebate of pennies, there is little that a democRAT is willing or able to do against the wishes of the special interests that have a stranglehold on their party."
Here's a better question... Is he dipping into the campaign money for personal gain? Where exactly did the $1510 come from, where did it go to, and is it considered a "campaign expense"?
The $1510 covered the difference between the $1.20/gallon price, and the normal price of approx $3/gal for each sale. But the deep-discount $1.20/gallon price likely attracted much heavier buying on that day than on similar days. In other words, the $1510 was a subsidy to increase that day's profitability.
So... did he use campaign money in a way that directly made his business more profitable?
What a moron!
Not only is that the dumbest way to respond politically. What kind of "conservative" runs to get the Feds involved? Judging by what little is here, I hope he loses.
ROTFL! Anybody know which Freeper came up with this gem?
Actually, he could face charges. In most states, there are laws about how low you charge for gas, no to mention the possible contract violations.
Sounds like it to me, or dangerously close.
I read down to the part where it mentioned larry sabato, and then I knew the whole thing was BS. That guy shouldn't be teaching poly sci at a juco, much less appearing on TV as an "expert".
...and the lottery
It's always preferable to bend over and take it up the chute.
Appeasement doesn't work against terrorists and it doesn't work against Democrats.
If I was there and wanted to wait in line for who knows how long, I'd have bought the gas. But considering how long I would have had to wait in line to maybe fill an 11 gallon tank, I wouldn't have wasted my time.
Unless the media harps on it, nobody for the most part really cares about the cost of gas to the point that they can tell you how much per gallon all the stations within a 2 mile radias of their favorite station charges........
People who buy $3 cups of coffee and whine about gas would drive me to drink if I could afford the good stuff.
It was tlb. First post. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1686333/posts
Thank you very much for the info!
Immortality! Kewl
Ut uh. 15 minutes maybe!
Sorry.
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