One of the things we’re paying close attention to on this trip is gas prices. Not only because we’re driving a 1998 Toyota Sienna that doesn’t exactly get the greatest gas mileage, but also because gas and energy prices are clearly weighing heavily on the mind of the electorate. Everyone we talk to acknowledges that energy independence has to be a goal and there are signs of new thinking here in the midwest, namely the presence of some E-85 pumps. But it’s still the cost of gas that is hitting working people (and podcasters) in their pockets, and therefore the voting booth.

We’ve noticed a very suspicious and conspicuous pattern on this trip: the redder the state, the cheaper the gas. As we came across New York prices began dropping, plunging below $2 in Ohio, heading back up when we went to Michigan, dropping again in Indiana and Illinois, and then going up once more as we crossed into Wisconsin. Conspiracy? Well with OPEC set to cut oil production levels, the NYT seems to think so.

The group’s most influential member, Saudi Arabia, has remained conspicuously silent. The Saudis are understood to support a production cut, but OPEC watchers reason that the country, which accounts for one-third of OPEC’s output, wants to be discreet, with midterm elections in the United States just a few weeks away.

The Saudis still need their money, but they’re willing to wait a few weeks to help out an old friend. We need a Congress that is not bought and paid for by the oil companies and the Bush-Saudi cartel. Voting blue is the best way to do that.