Candidates are listed in alphabetical order. Positions are categorized as Pro (Yes), Con (No), Not Clearly Pro or Con, or None Found.
Candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria are listed last.

Pro (Yes)

Con (No)

Clinton, Hillary (D) - Pro Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator (D-NY), stated in a Nov. 7, 2007 press release titled "Statement of Hillary Clinton on High Gas Prices" on her official candidate website: "With oil nearing $100 a barrel and gas prices over $3 per gallon, Americans are feeling the pain of seven years of a failed Bush-Cheney energy policy... I urge the President to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the Northeast Heating Oil Reserve to send a signal to the market and ease concerns about low crude oil stocks that are driving prices higher." Nov. 7, 2007 Hillary Clinton

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Gravel, Mike (Lib) - Con Mike Gravel, former U.S. Senator (D-AK), at the June 3, 2007 Democratic Presidential Debate in Manchester, NH, stated: "There's nothing I would do as President to lower the price of gasoline right now. We Americans have to grow up. If we want to get off of the dependency on the Middle East we have to own up to the problem. These things cost money. They're controlling our society. And the sooner we stop fighting these wars -- here, stop and think: You only see $3. Just watch those wheels turn. There's another $4 -- which is what we spend to keep American troops around the world to keep the price. So you're paying more than $7 a gallon, you just don't know it." June 3, 2007 Mike Gravel

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Keyes, Alan (Ind) - Not Clearly Pro or Con Alan Keyes, former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State, stated in an Oct. 26, 2004 debate sponsored by WTTW and the City Club of Chicago: "I think that the real question, when you have high gasoline prices, is to ask why the prices are high. Right this moment, I think that's kinda hard to explain, because we don't see, anywhere that I can tell, in the world, where there is a problem with production or other things, so we'd need to examine that. But, over the long term? I think we need to develop proper alternative fuels. I think we need to develop ethanol. We need to push on the research, where breakthroughs are occurring, to get hydrogen from ethanol." Oct. 26, 2004 Alan Keyes

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McCain, John (R) - None Found ProCon.org emailed the McCain campaign on Mar. 11, 2008 with this question. We had not received a reply or found a position as of Mar. 21, 2008.

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McKinney, Cynthia (Grn) - Not Clearly Pro or Con Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. House Representative (D-GA), stated during the Jan. 13, 2008 Green Presidential Debate held in San Francisco, CA: "I would adopt a policy of 'leave the oil in the soil.' Then our energy policy would utilize all of the green technologies that exist around the world. We could institute a jobs programs by having manufacturing plants in under-served areas that would manufacture this green technology." Jan. 13, 2008 Cynthia McKinney

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Nader, Ralph (Ind) - Not Clearly Pro or Con Ralph Nader, attorney, author, and political activist, wrote in his 2002 book, Crashing the Party: Taking on the Corporate Government in an Age of Surrender: "Mr. Gore's too-little, too-late call for releasing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to reduce heating-oil prices was primarily a political ploy. The reserve was established for national security/emergency objectives, not for helping a candidate whose long record of receiving oil industry political money and caving in to Big Oil has become an embarassment." 2002 Ralph Nader

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Obama, Barack (D) - Not Clearly Pro or Con

Barack Obama, U.S. Senator (D-IL), stated in an Aug. 31, 2005 article titled "Obama Statement on the President's Decision to Release Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve" on his official candidate website: "I agree with the President's decision to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help replenish supply shortages resulting from Hurricane Katrina. Nearly all oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut down, and releasing this oil will help increase production and stabilize prices. However, I do believe that this tragedy makes it very clear that that the reserve should only be used in the event of an emergency, and that we shouldn't be tapping the reserve to provide a small, short-term decrease in gas prices. Catastrophic events like Hurricane Katrina are the reason the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created, and releasing oil at this time is appropriate. But to truly provide Americans relief from skyrocketing oil prices, we must get serious about decreasing America's dangerous dependence on foreign oil by increasing fuel efficiency and investing more in the renewable fuels that can lead us down the path to energy independence." Aug. 31, 2005 Barack Obama [Editor's Note: ProCon.org emailed the Obama campaign on Mar. 11, 2008 and called them on Mar. 18, 2008 to acquire a Pro or Con position on this question. We had not received a reply as of Mar. 21, 2008.]

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Paul, Ron (R) - Not Clearly Pro or Con

Ron Paul, U.S. Representative (R-TX), wrote in a May 8, 2006 article titled, "Foreign Policy, Monetary Policy, and Gas Prices," posted on his official candidate website: "I agree with the President's decision to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help replenish supply shortages resulting from Hurricane Katrina. Nearly all oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut down, and releasing this oil will help increase production and stabilize prices. However, I do believe that this tragedy makes it very clear that that the reserve should only be used in the event of an emergency, and that we shouldn't be tapping the reserve to provide a small, short-term decrease in gas prices. Catastrophic events like Hurricane Katrina are the reason the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created, and releasing oil at this time is appropriate. But to truly provide Americans relief from skyrocketing oil prices, we must get serious about decreasing America's dangerous dependence on foreign oil by increasing fuel efficiency and investing more in the renewable fuels that can lead us down the path to energy independence." May 8, 2006 Ron Paul

CANDIDATES WHO HAVE WITHDRAWN OR WHO NO LONGER MEET OUR CRITERIA      Biden, Joe (D) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 3, 2008; no position found as of that date Top      Brownback, Sam (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Oct. 19, 2007; no position found as of that date Top      Dodd, Chris (D) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 3, 2008; no position found as of that date Top      Edwards, John (D) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 30, 2008; no position found as of that date Top      Gilmore, Jim (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Aug. 14, 2007; no position found as of that date Top      Giuliani, Rudy (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 30, 2008; no position found as of that date Top      Huckabee, Mike (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Mar. 4, 2008; no position found as of that date Top      Hunter, Duncan (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 19, 2008; no position found as of that date Top Imperato, Daniel (Ind) - Con Daniel Imperato, an Independent candidate and business entrepreneur, stated in a Mar. 11, 2008 telephone interview with ProCon.org: "No I don't support tapping into the U.S. emergency reserves. I do support additional drilling...There is plenty of oil available coming into oil wells from refineries of United States of America. There are new techniques to extract more oil. The fact of the matter is we need to diversify our energy program." Mar. 11, 2008 Daniel Imperato Top    Kubby, Steve (Lib) - Con Steve Kubby, a Libertarian candidate and founder of the American Medical Marijuana Association, stated in a Mar. 12, 2008 email to ProCon.org: "No. If we're going to have a strategic oil reserve, it should be used for its intended purpose (ensuring that our armed forces don't run out of gas in a war situation). Tapping it every time prices go up is just a way of distorting the market for political purposes -- hiding the real cost of oil so that our politicians can avoid dealing with the consequences of their policies." Mar. 12, 2008 Steve Kubby Top      Kucinich, Dennis (D) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 25, 2008; no position found as of that date Top    McEnulty, Frank (Ind) - Con Frank McEnulty, an Independent candidate and President of Our Castle Homes, in a Mar. 19, 2008 email to ProCon.org, stated: "No, tapping into the strategic reserve now would do nothing to affect the worldwide price of oil. The only things that will affect the price of oil would be a slowing of the world economy (possibly happening) or the United States developing a comprehensive, long-term energy plan to greatly reduce our dependence on all oil." Mar. 19, 2008 Frank McEnulty Top      Richardson, Bill (D) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 10, 2008; no position found as of that date Top      Romney, Mitt (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Feb. 7, 2008; no position found as of that date Top      Smith, Christine (Lib) - None Found       ProCon.org emailed the Smith campaign on Mar. 11, 2008 with this question. We had not received a reply or found a position as of Mar. 21, 2008.   Top      Tancredo, Tom (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Dec. 20, 2007; no position found as of that date Top      Thompson, Fred (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 22, 2008; no position found as of that date Top      Thompson, Tommy (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Sep. 12, 2007; no position found as of that date Top      Vilsack, Tom (D) - None Found   Withdrew on Feb. 23, 2007; no position found as of that date

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