In yesterday’s 51-49 vote ‘authorizing’ drilling for oil in ANWR, three Democrats voted with the Bush administration:
I can conjecture on Landrieu’s reasons, home to many oil & gas companies, etc., but Inouye and Akaka?!?!
I need a lesson in Politics 101
WAG, maybe they agreed with the policy over party affiliation. Not every politician has to tow the line.
Freak state solidarity?
They get cheaper oil, of course. Hawaii has to import everything via boat, and volcanos don’t lend themselves to drilling. More domestic oil production means they can get shipments from Alaska without having to deal with international cartels and shipping tariffs and customs and whatnot.
Note that unlike every other state, Hawaii gets the bulk of its electricity from oil burning plants (while in the rest of the US, coal, nuclear, hydro, and natural gas provide the bulk of the power; on the mainland there are very few oil burning power plants.) This is another factor to consider.
Senator Inouye is very close friends with Senator Stevens, the most vocal proponent of drilling in ANWR. They have a very long history of supporting the other’s projects in their two outlying states.
If one looks at the situation cynically, one could say that it is an example of two pork-barrel politicians scratching each other’s backs. If one were to look at the glass as half-full, one could say that it is an example of why the Senate was designed to give equal consideration to the interests of each state. Weak states with small populations are afforded equal representation in the Senate so that the interests of small states can be maximized by joining together on matters that, for the most part, don’t matter to large states.
That being said, I’m not sure why Akaka voted for ANWR. I have no idea of his history on the subject, but there is often a considerable urge for Senators of the same state and of the same party to vote the same way in order to avoid creating splits within the state’s political party. Akaka may simply be following Inouye’s lead in this respect.