Thanks to GOP, I'm pumped for November

THE PRICE of gas has dropped so I'm voting Republican.

Oh sure, as the cost per gallon climbed -- $3.11, $3.27, $3.34 -- I started to get angry. I'd stand by my car, pump in hand, fulminating about Bush, Frist, Hastert, and Romney, feeling my political colors changing. I began ranting on about the war, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. I suddenly found myself worrying about the disappearing middle class, jobs going across the ocean to India, and the growing gap between the rich and the poor. I had dreams of healthcare for all, a higher minimum wage, and a more progressive tax system. Heck, I even started reading the Daily Kos.

And then, almost without notice, the upward surge reversed. I drove in one day to make my purchase and the price, unbelievably, was below three dollars. Before I even had time to digest that news, in less than a week it was $2.50. And now? $2.19 at a Hess in Wilmington. $2.12 at Prime Energy in Malden! $2.12!! In only a few days, I figure, it is bound to drop below two bucks. I'm starting to dread the regular trips to the gas station less and less, and I'm liking the president more and more.

I know what you're thinking, and you're probably right. What happened to those new found principles and ideals, those notions of the greater good and together we can? Turns out I'm a pragmatist. Yeah, I'm being bought off for a few bucks -- actually, about $15 a week. But come to think of it, all of that rhetoric about the middle class and health insurance and minimum wage was just about dollars and cents as well. Except that now, when I'm at the pump, the dollars and cents are in my pocket, not someone else's.

Is it just an election year ploy, a cynical manipulation of the market to capture straying voters such as myself and bring them back to the fold? Could be. But it's a good one. All along, I had been agreeing with Hillary and Kerry that the Republicans were incompetent. It really was a good idea that we went into Iraq, they told me, but the Bush team blew it -- too few troops, no post-invasion game plan, poor execution, and everything done on the cheap.

Still, gas is nearing two bucks. Maybe these guys really do know what they're doing. Sure, people are dying, bombs are exploding everywhere, and Iraq is on the verge of civil war. On the other hand, we're awash in oil and the price is plummeting.

Is it worth it? I don't know. I stand at the pump mulling that question, pondering the money spent, the lives lost, and the ideals betrayed. It's a hard case to make. At two dollars, gas is still pretty high. But at $1.50? Perhaps. Perhaps.

Tom Keane is a partner in a private equity firm and a former Boston city councilor.