I watched as much as I could stomach of the now infamous John McCain lime green, "I'm not W and Obama is not experienced enough" speech.

John McCain has always been an enjoyable guest on Jon Stewart and I've seen him on a number of other shows and thought he did well enough although no one could call him eloquent or awe inspiring.

In the Kenner speech though there was something I noticed for the first time.

He's creepy.

He'd make a semi-point and while he was waiting for applause a sick grin that could best ...

Once again I disagree with the pollsters and pundits who say that the prevailing issue in this race is the economy.

I don't have any statistics or studies to prove this, but in my opinion the most important factor to most people is the price of gasoline.

Regular unleaded gas is topping $ 4.00 a gallon in a lot of places, and even in the cheapest areas is knocking on the door of that mark.

If a presidential candidate can come up with a real solution to these prices I think they'd be able to waltz into the White House.

The "gas tax holiday" is a publicity stunt and would amount to almost no real savings. Economists agree that reducing the price of a gallon of gas would drive up demand and thus almost immediately drive the price right back up. To think otherwise would be blindly placing a great deal of trust in the willingness of the oil companies to not take advantage. After all, they know we'll pay $4 a gallon so absent any mandates which require a lower price surely no one really believes they will willingly lower their prices and profits.

Another price I noted was the price of diesel fuel. Saturday a local station was carrying it for $4.29 a gallon. On Tuesday, $4.39 a gallon. While diesel cars and trucks are a minority, a lot of people don't stop to think about the effect the higher diesel prices are having on every product which has to be shipped by truck, train or boat, all of which run on diesel fuel. Has anyone noticed the increase in grocery prices lately? Not only are rice and corn expensive and in short supply, but the rising price of diesel fuel has increased the shipping costs and raised the price of everything in the store.

I don't know what the short term solution is, other than a government enforced mandate with a cap on oil prices and a cap on the profits which can be made by the oil companies. I don't like it, but I like it less than having to walk.

By the way, I live in the rural south where there is no mass transit and everything is too far to get to by bicycle (and it's not safe to use that method here anyway). 

I would love to hear a candidate "show us the money" and explain exactly what they are going to do to fix this situation before it's too late.

And the answer we're looking for isn't switchgrass, ethanol, or a gas tax holiday.