Our guest blogger is Charles Territo, Director of Communications for the Auto Alliance (BMW, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Mazda, Mercedez Benz, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Toyota, and Volkswagen).

For most of this year rising gas prices have been on everyone’s mind. Believe me, the auto industry understands very well just how much of an impact $4/gallon gas has had on American consumers. As you may have seen, it’s having an impact on us, as well.

Last week, the Auto Alliance and the National Auto Dealers Association sponsored tire pressure checks for members of Congress and their staff who park in the Rayburn Office Building. Surprisingly, we found that most drivers had tires between 5 and 7 pounds under inflated — some had tires under-inflated by as much as 20 pounds. This significantly reduced their vehicle’s fuel economy.

We all share a goal of increasing fuel economy, as well as enhancing energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the fuel economy increases passed last year by Congress (and supported by the Auto Alliance) will help. But consumers want ways to fight back against high gas prices right now. By properly inflating tires, we can have an immediate impact on the more than 245 million vehicles currently on our nation’s roads and highways.

Earlier this year, we cosponsored the Alliance to Save Energy’s Drive Smarter Challenge. As part of this campaign we advocated maintaining proper tire pressure as one simple step consumers could take to increase fuel economy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. It’s more important than you may think. For instance, did you know…

• The Department of Energy estimates that 1.2 billion gallons of fuel were wasted in 2005 as a result of driving on under-inflated tires.

• Fuel efficiency is reduced by 1% for every 3 PSI that tires are under-inflated.

• Proper tire inflation can save the equivalent of about 1 tank of gas per year.

• Proper tire inflation also reduces CO2 emissions.

• Experts estimate that 25% of automobiles are running on tires with lower than recommended pressure, because people don’t know how to check their tires or don’t realize that tires naturally lose air over time.

Maintaining proper tire pressure may not solve our dependence on foreign oil, but it will help. Consumers can get a few more miles to gallon, and when combined other driving and maintenance tips, those small steps can help to make a serious improvement in vehicle fuel economy.

Digg it!

In their new book, ‘Grand New Party,’ Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam urge the GOP to refocus on shoring up the economic well-being of the American family.

But in a review of the book in the New Republic, Robert Gordon points out that, while many politicians on the left are already heeding Douthat and Salam’s advice, John McCain certainly isn’t.

One place this is clearly evident is in John McCain’s tax plan, which showers money on corporations and the super-rich while leaving middle class families and their kids high and dry.

According to Tax Policy Center figures, McCain’s plan is worse than his opponent’s for the bottom 80% of American families with children and far, far worse for the bottom 40% of families with children.

As Gordon explains:

McCain has “one break for most families–the expansion of the dependent exemption–but that proposal is worth more than twice as much to a millionaire as to a median family, and because it is not refundable, it is worth nothing to poor families and little to many in the working-class.“

Read Gordon’s full piece here.