Politicians are having a difficult time agreeing on what to do about sky-high gas prices, but they’re speaking in unison on one point: They feel your pain.

“We have an energy crisis right now,” said U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, a Republican in the midst of his first Senate re-election campaign. “The cost of gas is imposing severe hardships on people across the state.”

“This is a topic of great concern,” said Congressman Tim Walz, a Mankato Democrat also seeking a second term.

It’s not just incumbents.

“There are some people have to choose between paying their electric bills or driving to work,” said Brian Davis, the GOP-endorsed challenger against Walz. “And it’s the rural areas of America that are hit the worst.”

“Hardly a day goes by when I don’t hear about another Minnesotan affected by the skyrocketing cost of gas,” writes Democrat Al Franken, Coleman’s opponent, on his campaign Web site. “There’s the family that won’t be going up to the cabin this summer ... the construction company laying off workers and retiring trucks ... .”

If drivers could fuel their vehicles with press releases, media conference calls and campaign speeches, the pump-price problem might disappear.

Despite the clear realization that drivers are suffering and are in a surly mood four months before they will be voting, politicians haven’t come to agreement on a strategy for near-term reductions in fuel prices.

There’s a virtually universal call for developing alternative energy to petroleum products, but the elected officials and their campaign challengers freely admit that renewable fuels offer only future price relief.

Policing profiteers

For short-term price reductions, both Republicans and Democrats are looking to send signals to the marketplace.

The Democrats are sponsoring legislation that attempts to put a scare into energy “speculators” who they blame for driving up prices much more than the law of supply and demand would justify.

House Democrats, including Walz, are pushing a bill that would encourage the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and punish those taking advantage of American consumers, Walz said. Criminal penalties of up to $150 million would be allowed for corporations found guilty of “gas price gouging.”

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who’s not up for re-election, is focusing on commodity futures traders who some are accusing of driving up oil prices. Klobuchar is pushing legislation to give additional staff and authority to federal regulators who police the futures markets.

Other Democrats — including Franken — have pushed for windfall profits taxes on oil companies with proceeds dedicated to renewable energy development and tax relief for low- and middle-income drivers. Republicans say that higher taxes on oil companies would be a disincentive for additional oil production.