Democrats and gas prices

I heard on the radio, in a teaser for upcoming stories I missed as I was in the shower, that Democrats have said they have plans to bring down the price of gas. I assume they are speaking about short-term prices, at least. Having not seen a single detail yet, I have some general observations.

1) Reducing the price is easy. Barring a veto (that would be almost certain), they could cap gas prices at any level they like. Reducing the price while preventing shortages may not be. To the extent that gasoline represents a competitive market, lowering the price reduces the supply that Evil Oil Companies are willing to supply, while increasing the supply that Gas Guzzling Public demands.

2) Short of an amazingly expensive subsidy program that would drive the Democratic base crazy, I don't see any way to their objective in th e short run except punitive taxes / fines. But adding costs to a producer rarely makes things cheaper.

3) Lower Gas Price = Higher Gas Consumption. They want their cake (low gas prices makes voters happy), while eating it too (but low gas prices also mean higher consumption, which means more CO2 emissions). No ammount of CAFE standard changes would have nearly as much impact on greenhouse gas emissions as a gas price that makes everyone conserve - not out of the goodness of their hearts, but out of the paucity of their wallets. It might not have a "feel good" ceremony where lawmakers tell us we should keep them in office, but it's vastly more effective.