Doing some research on state average gas prices and endangered Republicans

[Gman]

and there are some interesting things appearing. My hypothesis is that gas prices are declining faster than the national average according to how endangered Republican Senators are and/or the danger of losing Republican seats. I would also expect gas prices to be going down faster than the national average if there is a better than average chance that the Democrat incumbent Senator or congressperson can be beat.

So I first looked at Virginia. Maccaca Allen is losing ground to Webb. So how do gas prices look?
Interesting that gas prices in VA are declining faster than the national average (red line).

So what about Pennsylvania? Dog Boy Santorrum is in big trouble. And, there are four congressional races that are rated toss-up or lean Dem at mydd.com. They are: PA-06, PA-07, PA-08, PA-10.



This time the US average is in Green. This one is strange. If the hypothesis is true, it would appear the GOP has written off Philly. So what's up with Philly? Is Philly a predominantly Democratic city? PA-06, 08 are north of Philly. PA-10 appears to be eastern PA. PA-7 appears to be Southeastern PA. I wonder what gas prices are doing in these areas. Are gas prices an issue in these areas?

Let's move on.

How about Tennessee and the seat Bill Fhrist is vacating? This is one the GOP absolutely has to win to keep control of the Senate. So what are gas prices doing in TN?

Hmmmm.... again, in a state the GOP has to win in, gas prices are declining faster than the national average. Isn't that special?

Let's look at one more. How about Missouri where Mr. Talent has got a real fight on his hand. Washington Post's Chris Cillizza says "There may be no Senate race in the country -- with the possible exception of Pennsylvania -- that is drawing as much national attention and interest as this one." Cillizza says Talent really should win this one due to his base in St. Louis. So is big oil doing its part to help Mr. Talent and preserve torture and abuse of prisoners? Let's see:



Again, the US average is in green. Whoa! Those blue and red lines are plunging like a whore of Babylon on her way to hell! The decline in gas prices this time is much faster than the national average. Just a little insurance to be sure Mr. Talent has no problems.

Ok, just one more. How about the great state of Ohio? This is a state that we have been assured repeatedly that the GOP represents God and there are no stolen elections. So why then are gas prices decling so much faster than the national average when they have matched the national average for the last year?

This is shaping up to be a disasterous year for the GOP in OH and that graph speaks for itself.

But what about states where the Republican Senator is safe or there are no crucial House races or even where the Democratic Senator is safe?

How about California? CA is a good reliable blue state. Dianne Feinstein doesn't appear to be having any trouble getting reelected and there are no crucial close congressional races. About the only thing at all about California this year is whether the Schwartz will get reelected. And any real true Republican knows the Schwartz is a RINO. So what would we expect gas prices to be doing in California with all its cars and freeways being driven by Al-Queda supporting Democrats?

Once again we see the USA average in green. So is California crucial to the Republican Party this year? Sure doesn't appear so.

What about Massachusets? None other than Ted Kennedy his self is up for reelection. And there are no congressional races crucial to the GOP. So, how are gas prices doing in MA?

Right at the national average. No one's doing MA any favors.

Surely this is all a tinfoil hat generated conspiracy theory. Well, what about West Virginia? Senator Byrd has a comfortable 30 point lead. Is WV being forsaken by Big Oil?

This time the US average is in blue. Not dramatic, but the WV average is about 10-12 cents below the national average. Makes me wonder what's going on in the Congressional races. There are 2 Democratic incumbents and 1 Republican incumbent.

Let's go out West again. What about the very blue state of Washington? Surely Big Oil is taking care of all those good Democrats in Washington State. Or are they?

The USA average is the blue line. Maria Cantwell is safe. Chris Bowers at mydd.com shows WA-08 as a tossup but with a comment that says there are conflicting polls and this should be a solid Democratic seat. So, gas prices are higher than the national average in the blue state of Washington.

Here's an interesting one: Arizona. John Kyl the incumbent R Senator will likely have no problem getting reelected. But the jerk JD Hayworth is in a race that's closer than it should be as far as Hayworth is concerned. Hayworth represents AZ-05 which is the area just east and northeast of Phoenix and within Maricopa county. So what would we expect to see? How about higher prices than the national average for all but the Phoenix area?

The US average is the green line. Voila! Is somebody cutting Phoenix area residents a break on gas prices so they won't be pissed when they walk into the voting booth? Granted the difference is less than 10 cents. I think the argument here really is that nothing really special is being done in AZ because there are no really endangered Republicans.

That's 10 charts or 20% of all the states, not necessarily chosen at random, but chosen based on whether or not there are crucially close and/or endangered Republicans. Check it out yourself: Gas price charts were obtained at GasBuddy.com. Check it out yourself. Look at Colorado where there's no Senate race. The only race that's close that shouldn't be close is CO-04 where the incumbent R, Musgrave will probably win in spite of his self.

Or look back east like at Georgia. Georgia has no Senate race this year and no close House races. This is one of the few that buck the trend:

But more often than not, it is somewhat predictable that in a state like North Carolina where there is no US Senate race nor are there any statewide races, the trend looks fairly close to the national average:


I don't think any of this is completely conclusive. In general, gasoline prices are declining. The decline in gasoline prices in Canada parallels that in the US.

But in general, it appears that prices are declining in some states faster than the national average and that just coincidentally, some of those states are crucial to the GOP this year.

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

1. Interesting research

The problem for the Rethugs is, voter anger is so deep-rooted and widespread-- on Iraq, on the economy, on all the war profiteering and corruption of Rethug cronies in Iraq, on the environment, on Delay and his other corrupt cronies-- that this won't be nearly enough to help them.

[Cosmocat]

44. Eh ...

TOTALLY predictable, and I can't find it anywhere, but Rove actually said this would happen at some function back in January or February ...

I am in central Pa. and gas prices have dropped like a ROCK the last month ... I mean it ... Back in early August, we were just at the 3 dollar range ... Last night I gassed up at $2.33 ... HOW in the HECK does that happen ???

[MADem]

2. EXCELLENT work!! Perhaps I can help you with Massachusetts

Our governor is Mitt the Shitt Romney, a Republican. The anointed GOP successor to him is a woman who truly, if she stood still on a military base, would get painted like one of those rocks around Gomer Pyle's quonset hut. She is such a loser that her campaign ads tout things like "Her father had a heart attack and was disabled" (boo hoo) and "She raised a family" (like no one else has done this) and "She put her HUSBAND through school" (I shit you not--can ah git a witness up in heah?!!!).

The three gubernatorial candidates on the Democratic side go head to head in the primary next Tuesday. Each has their own supporters, but let me tell you, the WORST candidate of the three is a THOUSAND TIMES better than the GOP loser they've got running. Any one of them could clean her clock with a clean election (we will have to see what happens in western MA).

OK, so you might ask, if we have Democratic senators, a largely Dem CODEL, and a good shot at a Dem governor in the November elections, why not totally SCREW Massachusetts?

Because MITT THE SHIT, our outgoing governor, has designs on the WHITE HOUSE. If that weasel gets ANY traction, he needs to be stopped. He's a danger to the nation, the baaaaaaaastid!

[skids]

14. Western MA...

...you cannot drive 50 feet without seeing a Deval Patrick sign.

FWIW.

[blondeatlast]

3. AZ here--hubby and I were discussing the steep drop in gas prices

just today and he called pretty much the same thing (without the statistics. of course).

We called it a national trend, but I hadn't considered that it's state one--and the Republicans are feeling pretty vindictive that they don't have a lock on the governor's race, either.

Great work. Enthusuatically K&Red!

:kick:

[dorktv]

17. it will probably help Janet get re-elected though. And I am going

to the Hayworth/Mitchell debate today, are you coming?

[wellstone dem]

4. In Minnsota where one senate seat and one house seat

are relatively close, gas today was 2.259 where I live.

[randy5235]

5. more charts

I would love to see the average price of gas over a 20 -30 year on a month basis and see how often prices go down during election years around election season.


Randy

[Gman]

6. Here' s MN

Interestingly below the national average.

[Guaranteed]

7. Are you looking at the velocity of the price, or at the price itself?

Because in your second chart, it looks as if, although the national average is still lower than the price in-state, the gap between the two has closed quite a bit- which would seem to mean that the price in the state is going down faster than the national price. I would conclude that the Republicans are worried, there.

On this basis, though, the Frist chart would show the opposite. The gap between the national average and the state average is staying about the same, so it would seem that maybe, in that case, the Repukes aren't really all that worried.

This is a great hypothesis, though. I was thinking about doing some kind of research like this myself. Keep up the good work!

[Jcrowley]

8. Good research

And has there ever been such a misnamed creature as Jim Talent?

[Wise Child]

10. Here in Missouri,

Jim Talent, in his ad campaign, strongly implies that he helped get gas prices down, as though he worked to get this temporary price reduction started. What a douchebag. :eyes:

[wildflowergardener]

9. lower gas prices

You know, I wonder if this lowering of gas prices will hurt or help the republicans.

It is so obvious that it is happening two months before an election. I'd almost think it might hurt - making it seem as if the Republicans could have done something about the gas prices before if they'd wanted to but didn't - but now are doing it just to get re-elected. I also assume they will go right back up after the election so two months of low gas are not going to make me forget the high prices of the past.

Meg

[kentuck]

11. Excellent post and research..

K & R

[hvn_nbr_2]

12. Big Oil in cahoots with the Big Oil Dream Team? Nah, couldn't be. nt

[GrantDem]

13. Intresting... So I did my own.

In Indiana there are three incumbent congressmen trailing in the polls. Sodrel, Hochsettler, and Chocola. So....



Green is the national average.
Blue is Indianapolis
Red is the average for the state.

[Gman]

15. There you go!

Some things just start falling out!

[FogerRox]

16. I think you missed a lot in this data.. heres why

In the Virginia chart above, we see that the fall of 2005, is similar to the fall of '06. But the character of the line '05/'06 is not the same, its not a straight line, but its not the curved line we see in many other states in '05 and in fact Virginia seems to have gas prices below the national average for a large part of the year shown on the chart. & many of the charts seem to look like Virginia from a visual standpoint, especially in '05. BUT...



In the Ohio chart above, there is a "saw toothed" look to it, & so goes the Missouri chart. Why, I dint know, is it something peculiar in the gasoline delivery system in Ohio? But more importantly, in Ohio, gas dropped starting the 1st week in Sept, and has separated itself significantly from the line that represents the national average. In fact I would call it a BEE LINE to the bottom.

Now lets compare the curves NOW to the curves from a YEAR AGO. We know that refineries shift production priorities to heating fuel at a certain point in the calender, creating a seasonal effect.

VA- similar curves
Ohio- Look at that straight line starting in Sept... WTF!
Penn- WTF, last yr Penn looks like VA, but in April of '06, Penn prices get stupid. In fact from April '06 on the Penn chart has NO PEER.
Tenn- WTF! again... the same point on the chart, April 24th, Tenn prices perform an imitation of Penn, not as obvious, but close.
Missouri- Well again look at the '05 part of the chart, this is close to the previous states in '05. But again we see the hiccup in April... And this saw toothed pattern reeks of state level manipulation, if only because most other states don't show it, and it doesn't show on the national average, so I am assuming its an artifact created at the state level.

Summary

Curved slopes vs. straight line slopes
The difference between '05 & '06 is there. Most of these charts show an '05 pattern of price decline that looks like a curved slope, while in '06 we see Missouri and Ohio... the line on the chart makes a BEE LINE for the bottom. To me this is an alarm bell. How many of these charts show a straight line for any significant portion of the chart?

The artifact of April 24th
Summer time gas prices, which seem to be set up at April 24th. This allows folks to vacation a little more freely. Note that the April 24th effect in Washington state is the reverse of other states.

Gman- Pheonix/Arizona... compare '05 to '06 ...it is nearly shocking. Did Phoenix open a new refinery in the area? LOL.

[Gman]

18. If you think Arizona's wierd, check out Iowa:

Iowas gas prices actually started declining on or about 4/24. What is going on in Iowa? There are 3 incumbent GOP congressmen. Neither Harkin nor Grassley is up for reelection. Is Lantham in trouble? What about the other two? Chris Bowers shows IA-01 as lean Democrat so Braley must be doing OK. Can someone from Iowa shed some light on what the current situation in IA is?

[Cairycat]

20. Many interesting races in Iowa

Bruce Braley does seem to have a nice lead in Iowa 01. The seat's open because Jim Nussle (R-Smarmy) is running for governor. Most polls show Chet Culver with leading but close (like the poll from a Des Moines station showing 48% Culver, 43% Nussle and 9% undecided).

Iowa 02 is also interesting with Dave Loebsack going up against JIm Latham, who's held the seat for almost 30 years and comes off like a moderate, though he toes *'s line when it counts.

Also - and this is what I find intriguing - our state legislature is tied in the senate and a slim (almost wrote slime LOL) majority for Rethugs in the house. In my Iowa House district, the RNC or some 527 or somebody with big bucks is helping the newbie candidate (push polls and survey calls) against a solid Democratic incumbent. There's a lot of money being put into these races and it really makes me wonder why.

[Gman]

21. So it sounds like the GOP has targeted Iowa

which probably explains a lot about gas prices in IA as part of the grand GOP plan.

[Quakerfriend]

41. Could it be that this has something to do with the $$$ benefits

big- Ag will reep in the state of Iowa with the increase in ethanol/gas mix???

[rurallib]

27. IA-02 is Loebsack v. Leach

Leach is in his 30th year in congress, runs on integrity and votes 75%Repub. Recently after 10 years repub leadership ran his internet gambling bill through the House & Senate with great fanfare. The bill does little and puts some new regulations on banks that has pissed them off.
Dave Loebsack is running a good race and is very much in striking distance. Lewach has pissed off the wingers and fundies who may not even vote this fall. Dem registration is WAY up in the district and there is a real discontent at Leach's lack of doing anything.
In IA-03 Leonard Boswell looks to be in good shape. Recently recovered from some health problems, Leonard holds @a 12 point lead against Iowa Senate majority leader Jeff Lamberti.
In Iowa-01 Braley is holding a good lead. Bruce is a very haed campaigner and has a huge rep among the unions. his opponenet Mike Whalen is very rich and seems to shoot himself in the foot every time he opens his mouth.
In IA-04 incumbent Tom Latham(R) seems to have a big lead over Dr. Sellden Spencer. Dr. Spencer started late but has come on strong. This could be a surprise. Latham is on the right wing and Spencer has gotten some extremely good press, especially for his recent trip to train doctors in Afghanistan.
Ia-05 is home to the notorious nutcase Steve King. King has proudly designed a horrible fence that he wants placed between the US and Mexico. Yet he represnts Western Iowa. Eastern and Western Iowa are about as different as day and night. His opponenent is Judy Shulte. Ms. Schulte is running hard and all hope is not lost, but this is a tough one.
My prediction: Wins for Boswell, Braley and Loebsack. Spencer race extermely close. And while we'd love to see king sent back packing, I'm afraid he will continue to embarass Iowa for two more years.

[Gman]

29. Thanks for the rundown

It sounds like 2 of the 4 House seats are probably in play. Right now every single seat is critical to the GOP, and to us.

[AX10]

19. Excelent Research Gman!

K and R!

[lostinacause]

22. Something you might want to think about is that much of the difference

between the different states is associated with taxation, location and market structure. Gas WILL be more expensive where it is taxed at a higher rate. In California the taxes (and fuel standards) are higher then the national average thus the prices are consistently higher then the American Average. Areas near the coasts and near refining centers will also on average pay lower prices for gasoline. Finally areas that are more densely populated will pay a higher price on average. What you need to do when looking at this information is look at relative changes compared to what the relative trend is.

This type of analysis is extremely difficult to do with out a strong knowledge of statistics and a decent knowledge of economics of the oil industry.

Higher prices are naturally the result of liberal policies (taxation and standards) and are nothing to get worked up over. Systematic reductions in prices in specific areas would have to be shown to have any meaning and in my opinion the graphs you have shown do not do that.

[FogerRox]

23. What they do show is a difference 'tween '05 & '06

'05's seasonal price reduction repeats in each state as a downward curve, in '06, in "some" states its a striaght line

[lostinacause]

31. It's very difficult to make anything of distributional analysis in terms

of a collusive agreement especially if the arrangement is explicitly communicated. If distribution differences were easy to analyze then they would also be easy to duplicate. Also as the end is cut off things tend to look more linear. Due to the complexity, to make anything of the shape requires so much analysis that in knowing if the shape actually means anything you would already have the information necessary to detect a collusive agreement.

[FogerRox]

32. Sure., thats why I didnt.

[Gman]

40. I'm not looking for the fire

I'm satisfied finding the smoke. I'm not about to do any kind of weighted average gallons per state to come up with a true national or state average and determine if a location is outside the second or third standard deviation on the north side of the street which is a Republican precinct or the south side of the street which is a Democratic precinct.

This kind of thing is all too easy to cover up with all kinds of external factors. I'm looking for the smoke. Cut through all the standard excuses and reasons they would use to justify why Des Moines has cheaper gas than Corpus Christi with all its refineries and tankers that pull up to the back docks. This is out and out collusion.

[Gman]

25. True, however...

The following taxes are a total of state excise, state and federal taxes. Granted, CA does have different standards which should be considered.

Consider that Ohio's average price is about $2.19 of which 40.4 cents are taxes making the fuel cost itself about $1.78. Missouri has total taxes of 34.4 cents. Gas in MO is about $2.15 a gallon for a net of about $1.79. Iowa has taxes of 39.5 cents. Gas in Des Moines is about $2.08 for a net of about $1.69. Tennessee is averaging about $2.29. Their taxes are 39.8 cents for a net of $1.89.

Now, Massachussets has taxes totaling 39.9 cents. Gas in MA is about $2.52 a gallon for a net of about $2.12 a gallon. Washington state is averaging about $2.86. They have taxes of 41.4 cents for a net of about $2.45. The Arizona average is about $2.55, taxes total 37.4 cents for a net of about 2.17 a gallon. But, Phoenix is averaging about $2.51 a gallon for a net of about $2.14.

What does the first group have in common? Gas before taxes at less than $2.00 a gallon and congressional races that or do or die for the GOP. What does the second group have in common? Gas that averages over $2.15 a gallon and are no crucial races for the GOP except maybe JD Hayworth in Scottsdale.

So here's a table showing the 10 states with the lowest net gas prices and a table with the 10 highest net prices:

The 10 lowest prices are:

State  	 	Price   	All Taxes 	 Net 
Ohio 	 	$2.19 	 	40.40 	 	$1.78 
Missouri 	$2.15 	 	35.40 	 	$1.79 
Iowa 	 	$2.22 	 	39.50 	 	$1.83 
Kansas 	 	$2.27 	 	42.40 	 	$1.84 
Michigan 	$2.29 	 	44.60 	 	$1.85 
Kentucky 	$2.25 	 	39.80 	 	$1.85 
Minnesota 	$2.25 	 	38.40 	 	$1.87 
Tennessee 	$2.29 	 	39.80 	 	$1.89 
Indiana 	$2.28 	 	36.50 	 	$1.92 
North Dakota 	$2.32 	 	39.40 	 	$1.93 

Oh my goodness! Look who's at the top of the list! Ohio where a GOP trainwreck of biblical proportions is about to occur. Then Mr. Talent's Missouri, the 4 crucial congressional races in IA (one open seat, 3 incumbent pubs), and other states that are do or die for the GOP including normally reliably red Indiana.

The 10 highest prices are:

State  	 	Price   	 All Taxes 	 Net 
Washington 	$2.86 	 	41.40 	 	$2.45 
Utah 	 	$2.87 	 	42.90 	 	$2.44 
Idaho 	 	$2.87 	 	43.40 	 	$2.43 
Nevada 	 	$2.94 	 	51.70 	 	$2.43 
Colorado 	$2.81 	 	40.40 	 	$2.40 
Oregon 	 	$2.82 	 	42.40 	 	$2.39 
Wyoming 	$2.72 	 	32.40 	 	$2.39 
California 	$2.87 	 	50.40 	 	$2.37 
New Mexico 	$2.72 	 	36.40 	 	$2.36 
New York 	$2.83 	 	48.70 	 	$2.34 

Note that these high numbers exclude Hawaii (net 2.82) and Alaska (net 2.78).

And who do we have here. Well the GOP has no real chance in WA. Of course we know about California and New York. We also know New Mexico is pretty much blue these days. I can't explain a lot about the rest of the states except none of them stick out as having do or die races for the GOP.

Here's the complete list:

State  	 	Price   All Tax	Net 
Ohio 		$2.19 	40.4	$1.78 
Missouri 	$2.15 	35.4	$1.79 
Iowa 		$2.22 	39.5	$1.83 
Kansas 		$2.27 	42.4	$1.84 
Kentucky 	$2.25 	39.8	$1.85 
Michigan 	$2.29 	44.6	$1.85 
Minnesota 	$2.25 	38.4	$1.87 
Tennessee 	$2.29 	39.8	$1.89 
Indiana 	$2.28 	36.5	$1.92 
North Dakota 	$2.32 	39.4	$1.93 
Oklahoma 	$2.30 	35.4	$1.94 
Nebraska 	$2.39 	43.8	$1.95 
South Carolina 	$2.32 	35.2	$1.96 
West Virginia 	$2.40 	43.8	$1.96 
Arkansas 	$2.36 	40.1	$1.96 
South Dakota 	$2.39 	42.4	$1.96 
Texas 		$2.35 	38.4	$1.97 
Virginia 	$2.34 	37.3	$1.97 
Illinois 	$2.48 	48.4	$1.99 
Georgia 	$2.29 	30.6	$1.99 
Wisconsin 	$2.50 	49.5	$2.00 
North Carolina 	$2.41 	40.8	$2.00 
Alabama 	$2.39 	39.4	$2.00 
Delaware 	$2.43 	41.4	$2.01 
Pennsylvania 	$2.47 	45.1	$2.02 
Mississippi 	$2.39 	37.2	$2.02 
Florida 	$2.51 	48.0	$2.03 
Maine 		$2.51 	41.9	$2.09 
Louisiana 	$2.49 	38.4	$2.11 
Massachusetts 	$2.52 	39.9	$2.12 
New Hampshire 	$2.51 	39.0	$2.12 
New Jersey 	$2.46 	32.9	$2.13 
Maryland 	$2.58 	41.9	$2.16 
Arizona 	$2.55 	37.4	$2.17 
Rhode Island 	$2.69 	49.4	$2.20 
Montana 	$2.73 	46.2	$2.27 
Vermont 	$2.68 	38.4	$2.30 
Connecticut 	$2.79 	48.1	$2.31 
New York 	$2.83 	48.7	$2.34 
New Mexico 	$2.72 	36.4	$2.36 
California 	$2.87 	50.4	$2.37 
Oregon 		$2.82 	42.4	$2.39 
Wyoming 	$2.72 	32.4	$2.39 
Colorado 	$2.81 	40.4	$2.40 
Idaho 		$2.87 	43.4	$2.43 
Nevada 		$2.94 	51.7	$2.43 
Utah 		$2.87 	42.9	$2.44 
Washington 	$2.86 	41.4	$2.45 
Hawaii 		$3.32 	53.5	$2.78 
Alaska 		$3.09 	26.4	$2.82 

Gas tax info is from http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/statistics/gas_taxes_by_state_2002.html. They may be a few years old but I don't think they are obsolete.

Gas prices from http://www.gasbuddy.com

[lostinacause]

33. Interesting... Do you have any data from the last few years about

the price rankings?

[NobleCynic]

24. A few comments

Changing what color the US average is graph to graph makes it a little difficult to skim.

Second, you might be able to prove a connection statistically if you do a larger sample with randomly chosen districts controlling for non-election year patterns in gas price changes (as some states may, by virtue of geography, be closer tied to market changes than others). Also state gas taxes may vary which would change the relative rate of change while not changing the absolute rate of change.

[Gman]

26. The color of the US line is frustrating

I tried to make it consistently green but wasn't able to make it completely consistent. Yes, it is a little hard to follow because of that.

[No Exit]

28. In Georgia, the GOP was doing special events with "$1.69/gal. gas"

I heard this from my better half, who saw it on teevee.

I wanted to write to the Georgia GOP and suggest that they call their promotion "Welcome to Clinton nostalgia days, courtesy of your Georgia republican party!"

[Gman]

30. That explains a lot. The GOP is running from being blamed for

high gas prices. BTW, that's a net before tax of $1.30 a gallon.

[mhatrw]

34. Nice work. n/t

[AllegroRondo]

35. I was actually wondering about that this weekend (Missouri)

I live near St Louis, but cross the river to Illinois all the time. Typically, gas is slightly higher in Illinois, maybe 5 to 10 cents, due to higher gas taxes. This weekend, while St Louis had gas around $2.05 to $2.09 (or as low as $1.99 at Costco!), gas stations I normally see in Illinois were in the $2.29-2.39 range. At the time, I just thought "wow, they're really getting screwed on gas over there!"

[Gman]

36. Illinois gas tax is 13 cents more than Missouri

and the price of their gas is 30 - 40 cents more than StL? Hmmm.... Don't take a whole lot to figure out what's going on.

[Fridays Child]

38. Gman, this is good stuff but...

...I can't recommend it because it's over 24 hours old. Maybe you'll consider reposting it. This information cannot possibly be over-emphasized.

[Gman]

42. Today's gas prices from gasbuddy.com

State  		9/15/2006	9/18/2006	All Taxes	Net 
Missouri 	 $2.15 	 	$2.13 		35.4	 	$1.78 
Ohio 	 	 $2.19 	 	$2.21 		40.4	 	$1.81 
Iowa 	 	 $2.22 	 	$2.21 		39.5	 	$1.81 
Michigan 	 $2.29 	 	$2.27 		44.6	 	$1.82 
Kentucky 	 $2.25 	 	$2.22 		39.8	 	$1.83 
Kansas 	 	 $2.27 	 	$2.25 		42.4	 	$1.83 
Tennessee 	 $2.29 	 	$2.25 		39.8	 	$1.85 
Oklahoma 	 $2.30 	 	$2.22 		35.4	 	$1.86 
Indiana 	 $2.28 	 	$2.24 		36.5	 	$1.87 
Minnesota 	 $2.25 	 	$2.26 		38.4	 	$1.87 
Nebraska 	 $2.39 	 	$2.34 		43.8	 	$1.90 
Arkansas 	 $2.36 	 	$2.32 		40.1	 	$1.92 
North Dakota 	 $2.32 	 	$2.32 		39.4	 	$1.93 
Alabama 	 $2.39 	 	$2.33 		39.4	 	$1.94 
South Carolina 	 $2.32 	 	$2.29 		35.2	 	$1.94 
West Virginia 	 $2.40 	 	$2.39 		43.8	 	$1.95 
Texas 	 	 $2.35 	 	$2.34 		38.4	 	$1.95 
North Carolina 	 $2.41 	 	$2.36 		40.8	 	$1.95 
Virginia 	 $2.34 	 	$2.33 		37.3	 	$1.96 
Illinois 	 $2.48 	 	$2.44 		48.4	 	$1.96 
Mississippi 	 $2.39 	 	$2.35 		37.2	 	$1.98 
Georgia 	 $2.29 	 	$2.29 		30.6	 	$1.98 
South Dakota 	 $2.39 	 	$2.41 		42.4	 	$1.98 
Pennsylvania 	 $2.47 	 	$2.44 		45.1	 	$1.99 
Wisconsin 	 $2.50 	 	$2.49 		49.5	 	$1.99 
Delaware 	 $2.43 	 	$2.41 		41.4	 	$1.99 
Florida 	 $2.51 	 	$2.50 		48.0	 	$2.02 
Louisiana 	 $2.49 	 	$2.43 		38.4	 	$2.05 
New Hampshire 	 $2.51 	 	$2.45 		39.0	 	$2.06 
Maine 	 	 $2.51 	 	$2.51 		41.9	 	$2.09 
New Jersey 	 $2.46 	 	$2.43 		32.9	 	$2.10 
Rhode Island 	 $2.69 	 	$2.61 		49.4	 	$2.12 
Maryland 	 $2.58 	 	$2.54 		41.9	 	$2.12 
Massachusetts 	 $2.52 	 	$2.52 		39.9	 	$2.12 
Arizona 	 $2.55 	 	$2.53 		37.4	 	$2.16 
Montana 	 $2.73 	 	$2.69 		46.2	 	$2.23 
Vermont 	 $2.68 	 	$2.62 		38.4	 	$2.24 
Connecticut 	 $2.79 	 	$2.72 		48.1	 	$2.24 
California 	 $2.87 	 	$2.77 		50.4	 	$2.27 
New York 	 $2.83 	 	$2.78 		48.7	 	$2.30 
New Mexico 	 $2.72 	 	$2.67 		36.4	 	$2.31 
Colorado 	 $2.81 	 	$2.72 		40.4	 	$2.32 
Wyoming 	 $2.72 	 	$2.68 		32.4	 	$2.36 
Nevada 	 	 $2.94 	 	$2.89 		51.7	 	$2.38 
Oregon 	 	 $2.82 	 	$2.81 		42.4	 	$2.39 
Idaho 	 	 $2.87 	 	$2.84 		43.4	 	$2.40 
Utah 	 	 $2.87 	 	$2.85 		42.9	 	$2.42 
Washington 	 $2.86 	 	$2.86 		41.4	 	$2.45 
Alaska 	 	 $3.09 	 	$2.91 		26.4	 	$2.65 
Hawaii 	 	 $3.32 	 	$3.49 		53.5	 	$2.95 

[tritsofme]

39. You certainly wouldn't find $2.29 gas in Chicagoland.

Its always been my experience that gas is cheaper in St. Louis than IL, and that gas is always cheaper below I-80 than above it.

But here in Chicago and the outlying burbs we're still paying $2.70+

But the fact that gas is always cheaper in generally "red" Southern and Central Illinois would seem to contradict the OP's hypothesis that there is some grand scheme based on the vulnerability of Republicans, it has much more to do with taxation, population density, and supply and demand.

[oasis]

37. Wake up America. Please wake up.

[TreasonousBastard]

43. But, HOW could they manipulate prices...

state by state?

For four years I was living in NJ and regularly driving between Boston and DC on the job. Knowing gas prices was way of life when deciding whether to fill up before crossing a state line. I know about zone pricing, local taxes, and other things, like requirements for gas stations to replace their tanks in some states. All of these affect prices, as does proximity to a highway and the volume a dealer has. And there's always the inflated prices of highway franchises to deal with.

Anyway, while prices rose or fell in tandem across state lines, there was always a nickel or dime that just didn't fall into place. Joisey was always the cheapest place, but sometimes PA was a dime more, others it was 20 cents. Same with Connecticut, Delaware, and Maryland. On the NY Thruway, I could be sure of at least a 30 cent premium over Joisey, and sometimes 50 cents.

In Joisey, btw, while I always got a good deal just before the GW bridge, stations in northern Bergen county that were close to the NY border were curiously 10-15 cents higher than the rest of the state. Same with stations close to the Delaware River and PA.

So, how do some shadowy Republican operatives working with the oil companies actually manipulate this mess of pricing?

[trogdor]

46. Easy.

They control both the pipelines and the tanker trucks.

[NotGivingUp]

45. That's amazing! Good work! Where did you find the info?

[Gman]

47. I found it at

http://www.gasbuddy.com

[NotGivingUp]

48. very cool....thanks!