A WARNING FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE – AT 9:49 A.M. ET:  We have warned here before that the cost of fuel is a major sleeper issue for 2012.  I'm currently paying $3.50 at the pump for regular.  The Egyptian crisis, with its possible effect on oil shipments through the Suez Canal, can drive prices even higher, as we approach the 2012 elections.   Consider this story from New Hampshire, the first primary state: 

This winter has brought a perfect storm -- a tough economy, very cold weather and high fuel prices, according to Louise Bergeron, energy director for Southern New Hampshire Services.

In fact, with home heating oil prices 20 percent higher than a year ago, some needy families have already exhausted benefits, according to the state Office of Energy and Planning.

"I'm getting a lot of calls from elderly people who are very concerned because they have already expended their full fuel assistance benefit, and we're still in January and it's still very, very cold," Bergeron said.

As of Jan. 21, there were 7,170 households across the state that had used up their $1,125 maximum fuel assistance benefit. An elderly couple Bergeron spoke to last Thursday told her they were forced to set the thermostat at 55 at 7 o'clock in the evening, even though one of them is very sick.

"I cautioned her not to do that," she said, "that we would find a way to help if and when they needed another delivery, because I was concerned for the person who was very ill.

"You know, that shouldn't happen in our world," she said. "We don't want our grandmothers to freeze."

Jim Potti, a driver for Buxton Oil, unhooks the hose from the fuel pipe after making a delivery in Fremont recently.

"The single biggest factor is the price of the crude that the refiners have to buy," said Joe Broyles, a state energy program manager.

COMMENT:  If home heating oil soars in price, and gas at the pump takes the same route, it could have a devastating effect on an Obama campaign...especially as this administration is waging a war against offshore drilling and pretty much everything else that oil companies do.

One of the things that drove Carter from office was energy inflation.  It can happen again.  And this time, the Obaman antagonism toward oil drilling and oil as an energy source can be documented and publicized.

Watch this issue closely.

January 31, 2011