The Democratic Congress needs to make up its mind

First, the Democratic Congress passes legislation to try to hold down gas prices -- something that would only encourage motorists to consume more fuel.

Now, they are wanting to mandate high fuel-efficiency cars -- something that will take far more money out of consumers' pockets in order to pay for the technology than they would ever save through a combination of legislated gas prices and legislated fuel efficiency.

Presumably this is to force motorists to consume less fuel.

So, rather than let market forces encourage (but not mandate) lower fuel consumption, they want to use government to force higher fuel efficiency (which doesn't necessarily mean lower absolute fuel consumption rates.)

The question is whether Sens' Baucus and Tester are going to stick with the environmentalists and take our pickups and SUV's away from us -- or let Montanans decide what they want to drive, and not have to cough up an exhorbitant amount of cash for a new vehicle.

Not surprisingly, Sen. Tester is "visiting with experts on both sides of this issue."

And because Sen. Baucus is closer to an election, he is "hearing from constituents on both sides," rather than experts.

No wonder the Democratic Congress has approval ratings even lower than those of the President.

Thompson in the lead -- the horse race continues; Dems worried about Thompson, Republicans offering to help Obama

Most polls are showing Fred Thompson in a solid second place behind Guiliani in the GOP field. Pretty good for a guy who is still testing the waters.

But now, Rasmussen's latest poll results show Thompson in a narrow lead over Guiliani, 28%-27% -- this is the first time all year that anyone but Guiliani has led the field in any poll.

And now that the consensus at Left in the West is that Thompson is the most dangerous GOP candidate -- apparently based on the dual premises that actually Thompson believes all of that conservative stuff and has the best chance of getting elected. That pretty much settles it for Montana Headlines -- we trust LITW's judgment that much.

In the same spirit, Jim Geraghty over at National Review today offered some pretty detailed poll-based advice to the Barack Obama campaign on how to make gains on Hillary Clinton.

We're certain, however, that this advice is offered purely on the basis that Obama would be a better President for the nation -- and not that he would be easier to beat than Clinton.