Gas tax holiday could be a potent issue in Ore. primary

"Look what it cost me today -91 bucks," Bjorkman said with a tone of resignation in his voice.

Talk to drivers as they're filling up at the pump, and many say it'd be great if, as Hillary Rodham Clinton proposes, the federal gasoline tax were suspended this summer.

"It would be wonderful for people," said Bjorkman, a field services representative for a communications company.

Clinton's plan to suspend the 18.4 cents-a-gallon federal gas tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day could be a potent political issue in Oregon -one of five states with presidential primaries still to be held and a place where gas prices are usually among the highest in the nation.

Her Democratic rival, Barack Obama, dismisses the gas tax holiday as a political "gimmick" that will provide only about $30 of relief to the average motorist. Other critics worry the tax cut would deplete the federal fund that pays for highway maintenance projects around the country.

It's a plan that has caused a split among some of Oregon's top Democratic leaders as well.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Democratic "superdelegate" who is backing Clinton, said the New York senator's proposal would provide meaningful relief to families.

The governor isn't worried about the tax holiday depleting the federal highway fund because Clinton also is proposing to make up the losses to the trust fund by enacting a windfall profits tax on oil companies, Kulongoski spokeswoman Anna Richter Taylor said.

"It would have to be revenue neutral," Richter Taylor said. "The governor supports the point that middle-class families need help."