Hey T. Boone ... neither candidate is listening

Texas Oil magnate T. Boone Pickens recently announced an alternative energy program dubed the Pickens Plan. Pickens plans to spend an estimated $58 million dollars on a multi-media campaign to promote his idea. His hope is for the plan to be adopted by at least one of the two major party presidental candidates, but it looks like neither McCain or Obama are biting.

McCain is currently running ads touting his call for increased drilling in the U.S., sometimes following T. Boone ads which include the line: "I've been an oil man all my life, and this is one crisis we can't drill our way out of."

Now, Sen. Obama is saying he would agree to some offshore drilling as well.

Senator Barack Obama said Saturday that he would reluctantly consider accepting some new offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in exchange for stripping oil companies of tax breaks and extending several tax credits to spur the search for alternative fuels.

At the same time, Senate Republicans appear to have dropped their insistence on opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

Mr. Obama has until now opposed any offshore drilling. But in a news conference here, he noted that there had been “very constructive” talks between Senate Republicans and Democrats on this issue in recent days, applauding a plan unveiled by a group of Republican and Democratic senators to permit drilling while supporting an effort to convert most vehicles to using alternative fuels in 20 years.

“If we come up with a genuine bipartisan compromise, where I have to accept some things that I don’t like in order to get energy independence,” Mr. Obama said, “that’s something I will have to consider.” [...]

The candidate, who has been campaigning hard in Florida the past two days, faces a delicate calculus. State legislators are angry that the bill would take the decision on drilling out of their hands. And both of Florida’s senators have vowed to fight the proposed bill, saying it would erode protections the state negotiated two years ago when it agreed to allow more drilling.

Responding to Mr. Obama’s shift, the campaign of Senator John McCain, which favors an aggressive expansion of offshore drilling, put out releases accusing the Democrat of flip-flopping.

Gee T. Boone ... it seemed like a reasonable idea.

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