[img_assist|nid=2200|title=Democratic congressional candidate Dina Titus with U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen at a gas station campaign stop in May.|desc=Politicker Photo|link=none|align=none|width=420|height=228]As election season heats up, candidates are moving into full pander mode. Thus far gas prices top the list of issues that are causing politicians of all stripes to abandon prior positions, disregard basic economic theory, and promise voters the impossible. This is not surprising given poll data indicating that voters' worries about the costs of filling up their tanks is a top concern as we move towards November.

Nonetheless, for rational-minded observers who might prefer that candidates not insult the intelligence of voters and instead present policy proposals that might actually do something to change the nation's energy policy (as opposed to offering cheap rhetoric with a shelf life lasting until, oh I don't know, right around Nov. 4), I find the whole situation nauseating. So in the spirit of the Olympics (which incidentally are occurring in China; the county whose increased demand for oil is a big factor for rising gas prices in the U.S.), I thought it would be appropriate to award medals to Nevada's best gas price panderers.

The bronze medal goes to Democrat Dina Titus. In her quest to defeat Republican incumbent Jon Porter for Nevada's 3rd Congressional District, Titus has held campaign events in front of local gas stations to register her outrage over the high cost of gas and lay the blame for rising gas prices at the feet of her opponent, Porter. While such stagecraft has brought Titus some decent press coverage, the whole premise of her argument is flawed as it requires voters to believe that a politician as feckless as Jon Porter could have any influence over anything.

Titus' best efforts, however, proved to be no match for Porter. After Titus came out in favor of limited offshore drilling and in so doing, co-opted the only issue that has provided the Republican Party with any traction this election cycle, Porter was outraged that Titus had so blatantly flip-flopped. Of course, Porter was wise to quell his whining on this front as the last issue that he wants to raise this campaign season is flip-flopping given that he has been a regular Nadia Komenich this past session in Congress in his attempt to convert himself from loyal Bushie to sensible Republican.

Porter's complaints about Titus, however, are not what earned him the silver medal. Rather, to best Titus, Porter would need to do more than simply stage press conferences in front of gas stations and boy did he deliver. First, there was Porter's plea to his constituents to send him their gas receipts so that he could present them to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as evidence of the pain and suffering of district three consumers (never mind that gas prices are roughly thirty to forty cents more per gallon in Pelosi's own district than in Porter's). Next, Porter participated in a surreal protest by refusing to leave the House floor in response to Pelosi's decision to block a vote on a GOP proposal calling for increased drilling before recessing the House for five weeks. You probably missed this because the protest occurred after Pelosi had ordered the chamber's lights to be dimmed and the C-SPAN cameras to be turned off.

While Porter's multi-faceted pandering made him a strong candidate for the gold, he fell just short to his co-partisan, Dean Heller, in the 2nd Congressional District. Like Porter, Heller has been participating in the House Republican's protest. What separates Heller from Porter is Heller's audacious claim in the Las Vegas Review Journal, and no I am not making this up, that since the House GOP's protest began "You've seen oil prices go down -- what is it $126 a barrel now? I think this debate has everything to do with that."

So in Heller's world a discussion exclusively among minority members of the U.S. House in an otherwise empty and dark chamber was all that was needed to reduce the price of oil. Given the apparent power that this group holds over the price of one of the most precious commodities on earth, one wonders why House Republicans waited so long to take such courageous and decisive action.

Heller's remarks are sad for at least two additional reasons. First, why would the state's largest newspaper choose to print such a claim as news? And this was not some small sidebar story buried deep in the paper mind you. The story ran for 18 paragraphs in the paper's front section under a big, bold headline reading: "GOP's actions lowering cost of oil, Heller says." At no point in the article was there any attempt to offer evidence in support of Heller's outlandish assertion or to demonstrate that he is full of hot air. And it was not until the final paragraph of the story that it was reported that analysts tie fluctuations in oil prices to slowdowns in the U.S. economy, unrest in the Middle East, and supply disruptions.

Second, Heller's actions are another example of the ongoing alterations that he has been making to his political image as he seeks to transform himself from moderate, nice guy Republican Secretary of State to hard edged House ideologue. The explanation for these machinations is no mystery. After barely surviving a primary challenge in 2006 from the ultra-conservative Club for Growth-backed candidate Sharron Angle, Heller apparently vowed to never have his conservative credentials questioned again. If this means that poor kids don't get health insurance or that he needs to argue that somehow a nation that consumes a quarter of the world's oil while holding three percent of known reserves can drill its way to energy independence so be it, so long as Dean Heller does not have to face a primary challenge.

Assuming that Heller holds off Derby this November and he then grows weary of being in the minority in Congress and opts to return to Nevada to contend for the 2010 GOP gubernatorial nomination, Silver State voters will be in for a real treat. I can only imagine the high level debate that will occur between Heller and Gov. Jim Gibbons as they gravel before the state Republican base.

David Damore is a political scientist at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.