With gas prices at record levels and expected to shoot higher during the summer driving seasons, members of Congress — and the people looking to replace them following the Nov. 4 election — are calling for relief for motorists.

State Sen. Dick Day, an Owatonna Republican who is seeking the Republican nomination to run against Democratic Congressman Tim Walz of Mankato, said immigration was the top concern he heard from southern Minnesotans when he started campaigning a year ago.

“I’ll tell you, it’s energy now,” Day said. “... This oil thing, it gets everybody.”

On Thursday, Day’s opposition in the race to take on Walz — GOP-endorsed candidate Brian Davis of Rochester — circulated an opinion piece spelling out the damage being done by high oil prices to average Minnesotans and the nation’s economy.

Davis echoed calls by President Bush and congressional Republicans to open up more areas to oil drilling, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and coastal areas of the continental United States.

“It will take years to develop these oil fields, but the sooner this exploration and development starts, the sooner it will bear fruit,” Davis wrote.

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