The Trail

Yesterday, more than 230 replied, issuing a signed letter opposing proposals by Clinton and John McCain to suspend the 18-cent federal tax this summer.

"First, research shows that waiving the gas tax would generate major profits for oil companies rather than significantly lowering prices for consumers," they wrote. "Second, it would encourage people to keep buying costly imported oil and do nothing to encourage conservation. Third, a tax holiday would provide very little relief to families feeling squeezed."

Signatories include four Nobel laureates and a number of members of President Bill Clinton's administration.

-- Jonathan Weisman

LINKING DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES

GOP's Take 2 on Anti-Obama Ads

The Republican Party doubled down on its campaign to link Democratic candidates for the House to Barack Obama, despite the Saturday loss by a GOP candidate who used similar tactics in a Louisiana district held by Republicans since 1975.

The latest anti-Obama ad comes from Mississippi, where Republican Greg Davis is trying to win a May 13 special election for a House seat held by the GOP for 13 years. The ad accuses Democrat Travis Childers of wrongly denying Obama's endorsement of him. "Travis Childers, taking Obama's endorsement is wrong; lying about it is worse," the narrator says.

Democrats pointed to Don Cazayoux's win in the Louisiana special election as evidence of the limits of an anti-Obama message. Republicans looked at the closeness of Saturday's race as a sign that the anti-Obama effort paid dividends.

-- Paul Kane