So far, the American public isn't blaming President Bush for steadily spiraling gasoline prices. The global oil- producing cartel is the bad guy, in the eyes of most Americans. But in an election year, hot issues usually feed into voter decisionmaking. Democrats are working overtime to make sure $2-plus-per-gallon gas works to their advantage. Republicans are pedaling furiously to keep the blame at bay.

For the Bush administration, with close ties to the Saudis and a president and vice president both from the Texas oil and energy world, the dangers are obvious. The White House and both chambers of Congress sit in Republican hands, making it difficult to assign blame to Democrats. Now the administration is making its first move to bring down prices: At a meeting this weekend in Amsterdam, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham will urge OPEC ministers to boost oil production.

For Democrats, the goal is to get Americans to turn their sights away from OPEC and see rising gas prices in the larger context of economic anxiety. Even with some economic indicators, such as job creation, on the upswing, Democrats are telling voters they're still losing ground, because of higher healthcare, college, and fuel costs.

"OPEC is the big bugaboo," says independent pollster John Zogby. "This right now is not materializing as a stand-alone issue. But it may, especially if gasoline prices are a major tie-in to inflation in general. If other things are going badly, too, such as the war, it could contribute to a snowball effect."

In Michigan, one of the battleground states, "people are upset [over gas prices], but not to the degree of pointing blame yet," says Ed Sarpolus, a pollster with Lansing-based EPIC/MRA. "In our research, the [issue] will hit the fan if it gets to $3. In our polling, that's when people say it begins to really, really, really impact their lives."

Just as much of the public still hasn't formed a firm opinion on Democratic candidate John Kerry, sparking a race by both campaigns to set his image in concrete, the rising price of gas - already at $3 a gallon in some parts of the country - has become an object of major political spin.

All week, Democrats have pounded on the issue from various directions. Three Democratic governors, from Arizona, Michigan, and Iowa, held a conference call with reporters Tuesday aimed at folding the gas spike into the country's larger economic challenges.

"Coming from a rural state, I can tell you that the transportation of goods and services across our highways becomes more expensive as gas increases, which means those goods and services become more expensive, which means they become less competitive, as we deal with a very tough global competition," said Gov. Tom Vilsack from Iowa.

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