Donald Ratajczak, director of economic forecasting at the University of South Georgia. The woman pictured above is a trucker, Andrea Cantrell of Smithsville, Tenn., who visited Washington, D.C. with other protesters to give a thumbs-down opinion about rising fuel prices. American truckers demonstrated twice in Washington in the past month. That has sent gasoline prices soaring, and suddenly the American economy no longer seems quite so invincible. Americans can argue that if oil prices choke the American economy, the producers will be damaging their most important customer, on which the entire global economy and their hopes for economic partnership rely.
Petroleum is a fossil fuel that occurs naturally in deposits, usually underground.
The largest reserves are in the Middle East. On some issues, like campaign finance, that don't really affect voters directly, the voters will often say that neither candidate is any better than the other. But on issues that affect the old pocketbook, there is a greater propensity for voters to choose sides. Answers wil vary.