Hopefuls slam gas prices on stump

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BALTIMORE -- Gas prices have surged to the top of election year issues, with candidates in Maryland and Virginia rushing to microphones to address the shock of regional and national energy costs.

"We can and must do more to keep the price of gasoline affordable," said Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, running for governor in Maryland, at a press conference called to address the energy crunch, including steep increases in electricity rates this summer.

The Democratic front-runner to challenge Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. endorsed harsher measures for gasoline retailers who manipulate prices.

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, the mayor's primary opponent, accused Mr. O'Malley of playing politics.

"The mayor is ... picking what he must perceive as the most opportune political moment to be against price gouging at the pump," said Scott Arceneaux, Mr. Duncan's campaign manager.

In Maryland's U.S. Senate race, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has attacked the leading Democratic candidate, Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, saying he has voted to raise the federal gas tax four times during his 20 years in Congress.

The federal gasoline tax is 18.4 cents per gallon, and Maryland's gas tax is 23.5 cents per gallon, according to the Tax Foundation, a District-based nonpartisan tax research group.

Virginia's gas tax is 17.5 cents per gallon, and the District's gas tax is 20 cents per gallon.

President Bush, in a speech on energy policy yesterday to the Renewable Fuels Association, said that if Congress had allowed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a decade ago, the United States would be importing 40 percent of its oil instead of 60 percent.

Mr. Cardin responded by affirming his opposition to ANWR drilling and criticized Mr. Bush's energy policies, saying they "have led to excessive profits for the oil industry and have done nothing to make the U.S. more energy-independent."