Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin does have a record of taking on Big Oil and forcing companies like Exxon (XOM — who is suing the state) to make unpleasant concessions in her home state of Alaska.
However, the McCain camp says that she is on board with the energy policies of presidential candidate John McCain. While they disagree about what should be done in ANWR, in terms of windfall taxes for Big Oil and other measures taken in Alaska, Palin will probably not challenge the McCain policymakers. CNN Money reports on Palin’s new stance toward Big Oil:
Christopher Ruppel, an energy analyst at Execution LLC, a broker and research firm for institutional investors like hedge and mutual funds is more concerned with McCain’s energy policy than Palin’s past spats with the oil industry. ‘We don’t think she will represent a big change from that.’
The McCain campaign, which speaks for Palin, confirmed that stance.
‘The governor supports the campaign’s positions,’ said Doug Holtz-Eakin, a McCain senior advisor.
With Palin falling in line, Big Oil doesn’t have too much to worry about in terms of her influence on McCain unless she can convince him to "drill, baby, drill" in ANWR. But Big Oil would benefit from that anyway.
Disclosure: I do not own Big Oil stock. I am voting for Obama.