Democrats are the only hope for instituting a substantial gas tax hike and offsetting income tax cut, a combination that former Bush economist Greg Mankiw said “may be the closest thing to a free lunch that economics has to offer.” But, sadly, they are giving into election-year pressures to demagogue the gas price issue, and saying things that will make it almost impossible to raise the gas tax appropriately in the near future.

In an email to supporters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (PDF), Anne Lewis is the latest Democrat to demagogue the issue:

Is anyone else feeling burned by the skyrocketing price of gas? I know it cost me almost $50 to fill up the family minivan this weekend. That’s just outrageous.

As far as I’m concerned, there are only two groups of people who love high gas prices: Big Oil executives collecting record profits and the Republican Senators who collect their campaign contributions.

The latest FEC reports show that Republican Senators Rick Santorum (Pennsylvania) and Conrad Burns (Montana) have both collected more than $400,000 from Big Oil throughout their careers. Senators Jon Kyl (Arizona) and Jim Talent (Missouri) have each collected more than $200,000.

These Republicans incumbents are all up for re-election this year. In each race, the DSCC and the Democratic candidates have a simple strategy that will help pave the way to victory. We’re going to ask the voters who they trust to lower prices at the pump.

It’s as pathetic as Bush’s decision to open the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and investigate “price gouging.” As Brad DeLong writes, “Democrats are (because of the environmentalist wing of the party) generally in favor of higher gasoline taxes and higher gasoline prices–except when gasoline prices are high. Republicans are in favor of letting oil markets “work”–except when gasoline prices are high.”