oil prices

U.S. Sen. John Sununu (R-Waterville Valley) is calling for a national energy plan that would reduce historic energy prices.

Sununu said the plan should focus on conservation efforts, investing in renewable energy sources and increasing domestic production of oil.

U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has begun airing an ad attacking U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) position on oil drilling.

The ad, titled "Pump," is a thirty-second-ad and is now airing on WMUR.

Throughout the week, former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D-Madbury) will be barnstorming the Granite State to meet with voters about rising energy prices.

Details of the events have not yet been released but Shaheen will be making stops in Salem, Concord, Littleton, Plymouth, Claremont, Newport and Rochester.

On a conference call with reporters U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Rochester) said oil companies should drill on 68 million acres of land the government has already approved for drilling.

"I am calling for domestic drilling; I want to make that perfectly clear. We have short-term and long-term solutions here," Shea-Porter said. "The issue is we've got 68 million acres of land that the oil companies are holding permits on and their not drilling."

Editors note: This is a daily post that aims to provide a round-up of daily events surrounding the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire.

Marc Ambinder writes that there is a 50 percent chance that the senate seat will flip to the Democrats.

U.S. Sen. John Sununu (R-Waterville Valley) argued today that corn-based ethanol is contributing to rising food  and oil prices.

U.S. Sen. John Sununu (R-Waterville Valley)

This morning in Washington D.C., Sununu participated in testimony titled, "Fuel Subsidies: Is There an Impact on Food Supply and Prices?"

"Ethanol production is driving up prices for small businesses, such the New England-based When Pigs Fly Bakery, and continues to hit families and food pantries hard," Sununu told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "This year, over 30% of America's corn harvest will be diverted from food to ethanol production. That's a bad deal for New Hampshire and the nation, because it causes higher prices for bread, milk, eggs, and other commodities."

U.S. Senators Judd Gregg (R-Rye) and John Sununu (R-Waterville Valley) have written a letter to President Bush urging the president to suspend deposits into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The New Hampshire senators joined 13 other Republican U.S. Senators in arguing that the move would help reduce oil prices.