According to Rasmussen, 67 percent of Americans support oil drilling off the nation's coasts and 64 percent think it will lower gas prices.
House Minority Leader John Boehner's (R-Ohio) office circulated the poll today as House Republicans push drilling as their solution to high gas prices.
The federal government prohibits offshore drilling, and Republicans have called for the ban to be lifted. Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.) will offer an amendment to lift the ban tomorrow at an Appropriations Committee markup, the leadership office said.
Republicans have accused Democrats of inaction on gas prices, while House Democrats have blamed oil companies and market manipulation for high prices. House Dems have passed legislation to create a Department of Justice task force to investigate and prosecute oil cartels, and Democratic senators have called for regulation of oil futures speculation.
Rasmussen surveyed 1,000 "likely voters" on June 13 for the poll.
A spokesperson for Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) confirmed Tuesday that he has dropped his call for an independent investigation into the NFL's "spygate" scandal.
Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has repeatedly criticized NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's response to allegations of illegal videotaping by the New England Patriots.
Two weeks ago Specter wrote that "if the NFL continues to leave a vacuum, Congress may be tempted to fill it."
"The lack of candor, the piecemeal disclosures, the changes in position on material matters, the failure to be proactive in seeking out other key witnesses, and responding only when unavoidable evidence is thrust upon the NFL leads to the judgment that an impartial investigation is mandatory," Specter wrote.
But during an editorial board meeting with the Philadelphia Daily News Monday, Specter said "I've gone as far as I can," saying he would no longer pursue a full congressional investigation into "spygate."
Though John McCain said yesterday he would like to ease restrictions on coastal drilling, the conservative Institute for Energy Research is not satisfied.
The group, which holds that regulations hinder the energy industry, said McCain's call was "good news for consumers," but blasted McCain's opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
"Unfortunately, we continue to find fault with Senator McCain
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has yet to return to Capitol Hill after conceding in the Democratic primary battle to Barack Obama, and is apparently taking a break from politics before resuming her senate duties.
At a press conference Tuesday, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who supported Clinton's presidential bid, said Clinton will return to the Senate "later this summer," The Hill's Manu Raju reports.
Prior to running for president Clinton was one of the most active and visible members of the Senate. The New York senator was a frequent fixture at press conferences, major hearings and floor actions as well as Democratic functions.
During her absence, Clinton has not been attending votes and agenda pushing opportunities she rarely missed in the past. Clinton was not among the 10 women senators Tuesday unveiling a "checklist for change" designed to help prevent female voters from supporting John McCain.
Among the issues addressed in the "checklist for change" are making healthcare more affordable and ensuring women receive equal pay, two issues Clinton has championed for years.
But Clinton's absence has not irked her colleagues, who recognize she needs time to "heal."
"I lost one of these races, as you remember, four years ago, and it takes a while to heal," failed presidential candidate and current Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said on June 11 on MSNBC.
"It took me three or four weeks as a human being to get, kind of, back to where I needed to be," Dean said.
Senate Republicans blocked an attempt Wednesday by Democrats to move a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits. The GOP objection to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) unanimous consent request virtually ensures that Democrats will add the politically popular measure to the supplemental war bill that the House plans to pass this week. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill over the unemployment-insurance extension.
Just a few weeks ago, Barack and Michelle Obama confounded political observers by giving each other a pound. Now, President Bush has confused Prime Minister Gordon Brown with a "hip-hop handshake," as reported by the London press.
"Instead of going in for a straight grip-and-pump, with the fingers slipping under the wrist, Mr Bush gripped around Mr Brown's thumb, to the obvious confusion of his partner in the War on Terror," writes the Telegraph, which has the photo.
The newspaper notes that Brown was so perplexed by the "'street'-style greeting" that three of his fingers ended up inside Bush's sleeve.
The John McCain campaign accused Barack Obama of having a "September 10th mindset" in his approach to treating suspected terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay.
McCain senior policy adviser Kori Schake said, "If the law enforcement approach was sufficient, September 11 would not have happened."
"Obama has a September 10th mindset," McCain foreign policy and national security adviser Randy Scheunemann said.
Former CIA director Jim Woolsey called Obama's approach "extremely naive."
The McCain campaign was attacking a remark Obama made Monday.
"What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks -- for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center, we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated," Obama said.
"And the fact that the administration has not tried to do that has created a situation where not only have we never actually put many of these folks on trial, but we have destroyed our credibility when it comes to rule of law all around the world, and given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, 'Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims.' So that, I think, is an example of something that was unnecessary. We could have done the exact same thing, but done it in a way that was consistent with our laws."
The two campaigns have been battling over the legal rights of suspected terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay since the Supreme Court ruled last week that those being held have the right of habeas corpus.
John McCain's campaign tries to highlight the Republican's call for a cap on greenhouse gas emissions in a new television ad entitled "Global."
The first line in the spot is a direct shot at President Bush: "John McCain stood up to the President and sounded the alarm on global warming ... five years ago."
The campaign said that the ad will play on national cable and in battleground states, though it hasn't specified which states it will air in.
Read the script and watch the spot below.
Script For "Global" (TV:30)
ANNCR: John McCain stood up to the President and sounded the alarm on global warming ... five years ago.
Today, he has a realistic plan that will curb greenhouse gas emissions.
A plan that will help grow our economy and protect our environment.
Reform. Prosperity. Peace. John McCain.
JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who just ended his libertarian-minded presidential bid last week, said that he doesn't plan to endorse either of the major party candidates for president this year.
On CNN Thursday, he first said that he wouldn't back his own party's presidential candidate, John McCain, "unless he changes his views on the war and was interested in the Federal Reserve and all these other things, which is not likely to happen."
Then Paul went further. He said that he has no "immediate plans" to endorse and added that he can't support "somebody that basically disagrees with all the things that I have worked for for the past 30 years."
"But, you know, I just will not be endorsing John McCain, nor do I intend to endorse [Barack] Obama," he said.
He had more praise for former Rep. Bob Barr (Ga.), the former Republican who is now running as the Libertarian Party's nominee.
"I haven't endorsed him, but he's saying the kind of things that, you know, I like to be heard, said, and I hope he does real well," Paul said. "But we also have Chuck Baldwin, who runs on the Constitutional Party. His views are very, very close to mine, and he worked very hard in my campaign. So, for me to pick one over the others is not easy. I hope they both together get a lot of votes."
Paul also said in the interview that he plans to hold a rally with his supporters at the Republican convention. Paul received 29 delegates in Republican caucuses and primaries, the fourth highest total of any candidate. The rally, however, won't be "a slap in the face" to McCain, the congressman said.
"I just hardly ever mention John McCain's name," Paul said. "And I'm sure up there, it will not be an attack on John McCain. It will be a philosophic argument by -- about why we ought to follow our Constitution, follow limited government proposals that we have believed in for so long, get back to balancing the budget, and doing the things that Republicans used to believe in and actually try to practice what we have gone a long way from now."
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced Tuesday that it will file suit against John McCain, hoping to compel the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to investigate the McCain campaign removing itself from public financing.
"John McCain poses as a reformer but when it comes to his own campaign, he thinks the rules apply to everyone but him," DNC Chairman Howard Dean said.
"Taxpayer dollars helped him secure a private loan to keep his campaign afloat, he got free ballot access which saved his campaign money and yet it's clear he doesn't think he needs to stick by the legally binding contract he signed. John McCain is breaking the law and doesn't seem to care."
The DNC filed an FEC complaint against McCain in February. Campaign finance law dictates that if the FEC does not take action on a complaint within 120 days, the party filing the complaint may file suit in district court.
The DNC will file suit in D.C. federal court when those 120 days are up next week.
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