I've seen Repug forums claiming it's manupulation trying to get the President re-elected. They may or may not be right, but I'm just curious who was behind it. It's definitely good for Obama and all of us though.

Under Romney, they can claim, "See, see, Mitt did it!"

Under Obama, driving down the prices is an effort to try and derail alternative energy efforts, push for higher CAFE standards, and make people less interested in EVs.

Low use time. That's all.

the previous 3 years gas didn't drop this sharply in the fall.

In 2012, the weekly average price for regular gas hit its peak for the year in April at 3.939, with the quarterly average at the end of the month at 3.830. The average at the end of October was 3.568, a drop of .262.

In 2008, the weekly average price hit its peak in May at 3.960 with a quarterly average high at 3.794. The quarterly average at the end of October was 3.452, a drop of .342.


http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=EMM_EPMR_PTE_NUS_DPG&f=W

Demand is seasonal.

Gas prices are driven by speculation. The last few months there was real concern worldwide that Rmoney would be elected leading to uncertainty in international relations. The last few weeks it has become more and more clear that Obama is likely to win this thing leading to less uncertainty of what US policy will be going forward the next four years.

Add that to us coming into the lower demand season and wala! Lower gas prices!

BTW Gas prices are based on the price of OIL that is traded as a commodity. There is no way to rig Gas prices. Its all based on the will of the markets.

(Brent is the best measure of the international trading price, rather than the Texas price which is tied more closely to the American market):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/commodities/143908/three_month.stm

A spike in price after the Oct. 3rd Denver debate, and then it gradually comes back down. There are, of course, other considerations - the stability of the euro, the likelihood of a world recession, and so on.

It's not so much because She likes Barack Obama better (altho She does), but there's just something about MittHeel that pisses Her off.

gas prices ALWAYS drop pretty markedly going into a presidential election.

as the shrub was running for his second term. So, you may be right

people are waiting 3-4 hours to pay $4-$5 dollars- price gouging, shortages. chaos. Worried about the effect it will have on turnout and the polls. And I know NY is solid lock blue, but most of the Dems are downstate and we have congressional, senatorial and state government races too.

...Millions of gasoline users were affected negatively by Sandy in the northeast. The effects ranged from being unable to drive their cars because of a lack of gas getting to their area, or because they were in an area where they could no longer drive because of blocked highways and tunnels, or because they no longer had a car to drive.

A few days ago I heard CNBC commentators talking about the Feds current actions increasing value of dollar which in turns lowers commodity prices as US can buy more from overseas cheaper. They were complaining that it was a reason stocks were not going up higher because oil related stocks were lower and one of their pundits said Fed should stop their actions. MY thought hearing this was that lower oil prices may not be good for Wall Street speculators, but great for consumers and Obama.