INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jill Long Thompson's campaign calls them pocketbook issues, not political issues.

Regardless, it's clear that the Democratic nominee for governor believes she's scoring campaign points with her repeated calls for Gov. Mitch Daniels to temporarily suspend the sales tax on gasoline, and her proposal to cap the tax at any pump price above $2.75 per gallon.

Whether they're paying off or not, she's made her pitches for cutting sales taxes on gas a major plank of her campaign — one that has put Daniels on the spot for a response over and over again.

He has told reporters before that state government can't do anything about the global prices of gasoline.

But now he's saying it in a new television commercial that began airing last week.

"State government can't solve every problem that people have and it shouldn't pretend it can, but we're not powerless, either," he says in the ad. "I mean, we can't change world gas prices, but we can cut property taxes and leave more money in Hoosiers' pockets."

On or just after the day that ad began airing, Long Thompson held another news conference urging Daniels to do what former Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon did in 2000 — use an energy emergency law to temporarily suspend Indiana's sales tax on gas.

She said he should suspend it from July 3 to Labor Day. That would collectively save motorists about $120 million, or in other terms, about $3.50 on a $50 fill-up at current pump prices, she said.

When asked what she would do to offset a $120 million hit on the state budget, Long Thompson simply said that savings could be found over time. But Hoosiers were hurting now, she said, and Daniels should act.

She said saving $3.50 on a fill-up "would buy a gallon of milk, and if you fill up twice in a week, you are talking about milk and cereal, so you're talking about savings that could be very helpful."

Long Thompson's news conference, held at a gas station in downtown Indianapolis, was on the same day that certain Republican presidential nominee John McCain visited Indianapolis. Daniels endorsed McCain long before he wrapped up the nomination.

In a news release, Long Thompson noted that McCain had proposed that Congress provide some immediate relief at the pump by suspending the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

She said his proposal fell short because revenue from that tax is used to fund highway projects.

But she said McCain at least recognized a need for some immediate relief and said he might be able to persuade Daniels to sign on to her proposals for temporarily suspending the sales tax and later seek legislation to cap it.

Jeff Harris, Long Thompson's campaign spokesman, said it was a coincidence that the news conference was held on the day McCain was in town and just as the new Daniels ad began airing.

"It was a perfect storm for us," Harris said.

Daniels has rejected several requests over the past few years to suspend the sales tax on gas. He now points to an interpretation by the attorney general's office that says the law O'Bannon cited in suspending the tax in 2000 did not give a governor authority to do so.

Daniels said recently that unlike many states, Indiana has avoided raising its state gasoline excise tax to pay for much-need highway projects and repairs. He was referring to the $3.8 billion a company paid to lease the Indiana Toll Road — money that's mostly being used for highway construction.

He also said Indiana has contributed to the "alternative fuels revolution."

"Those things are within our power to do," he said.

Although he has rejected calls for temporarily suspending the sales tax on gas, he has not dismissed Long Thompson's proposal for passing a law to cap the tax at a certain pump price.

"I'm not against looking at another tool, even if it's a very, very small benefit to taxpayers," he said.

That's probably a politically smart statement, given the public's ire over gas prices and Long Thompson constantly pounding on the gas price issue.

Don't be surprised if she starts doing it in television commercials.

___

EDITORS: Mike Smith has covered Indiana's Statehouse and political scene since 1993.