The White House keeps attacking Newt over energy policy

While Rick Santorum is discussing issues that, um, aren't very high on the list of voters' concerns (to say the least) and Mitt Romney is running on -- well, what is he running on? -- Newt's central focus has been on energy prices.

And the White House has noticed, attacking Newt -- sometimes by name, sometimes not -- several times over the past few weeks.

Thursday was the latest example.

And Newt was ready to pounce.

From the New York Times:

Newt Gingrich used a campaign rally on Thursday afternoon to respond to President Obama’s charge earlier in the day that Republicans were pandering to voters by promising lower gas prices.

Mr. Obama compared the presidential candidates to members of the Flat Earth Society for dismissing alternative energy sources like solar and biofuels and emphasizing only versions of “drill, baby, drill.”

The president did not name anyone, but Mr. Gingrich had no doubt that it was him in the cross hairs, since he has repeatedly mocked Mr. Obama as “President Algae” for extolling biofuels.

“The president maligned me, suggesting I don’t like biofuels,” Mr. Gingrich said at a rally in Illinois, which holds its primary on Tuesday and where, he noted, he drove past a station selling gas for $4.59 a gallon. “That’s baloney. I am in favor of science and technology.”

But he argued that “no serious study” showed that algae could replace a significant amount of oil in the short run. He announced that his campaign would make coffee mugs and mouse pads comparing his promise of $2.50-a-gallon gas with a $10-a-gallon projected price under the president’s policies. It will be a winning issue for Republicans, Mr. Gingrich said, if he becomes the nominee.

And regarding Energy Secretary Chu's "reversal" earlier this week, again from the Times:

Energy Secretary Steven Chu backed down this week from a controversial comment he made in 2008, when he said the best way to encourage conservation would be an increase in gas prices in the United States to the levels seen in Europe.

“Of course we don’t want the price of gasoline to go up, we want it to go down,” Dr. Chu said at a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

Mr. Gingrich accused Dr. Chu of election-year pandering of his own. “Dr. Chu’s turnaround is entirely a function of the election, and the day after the election he’ll be right back” to his earlier position, he said in Illinois.

Who do you want in the general election against Obama: Santorum talking about issues the vast majority of voters don't care about, Romney campaigning on no ideas at all, or Newt taking on Obama's failed policies and ideology, fighting for a conservative vision?