The battle for the White House has begun in earnest and Amador County is not going to be left out of the skirmishing.

In a county generally regarded as a Republican stronghold, a number of dedicated Amador Democrats are trying to turn that opinion around. The Amador County Democratic Central Committee opened a new headquarters last week across the highway from Mel & Faye's Diner in Jackson, the same week county Republicans (and six Democrats) participated in a town hall meeting in Ione with Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Gold River), the incumbent third district congressman.

Present at the Ione town hall meeting, Lungren's opponent Bill Durston called for debates prior to the election. Lungren said he would be willing to participate in debates with Durston. No definite arrangements were discussed.

In addition to the national election, there will be three local partisan races on this fall's ballot. Durston is running for Lungren's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrat Alyson Huber is mounting a campaign against Republican Jack Sieglock for retiring state Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi's (R-Lodi) seat in the 10th district. Anselmo Chavez is the Democratic candidate vying for Republican Dave Cox's state senate seat in District 1.

For the Ione town hall meeting, Lungren was all about high gas prices. "I can't think of any issue right now that is so severely affecting American families and the American economy than the price of gas," he said Monday.

Lungren told the crowd of more than 45 that the ripple effect has spread to small businesses, trucking companies, farms, the airline industry and food prices. "I believe rising fuel prices can be alleviated if Congress and the American people make the commitment necessary to improve the current situation at home," he said. One of the things Lungren has been pushing for in recent weeks is drilling off the United States coast, including in California, and exploring shale oil and other domestic energy sources. "Drill here, drill now, pay less," he said.

Offshore oil drilling has been controversial in California since the 1960s. The slimy beaches at Santa Barbara in 1969 spurred a massive movement to prevent such an occurrence from happening again. A moratorium banning oil drilling in all but a select few areas of California coastal waters has been in place since 1981.

A significant majority of Californians opposed a lifting of that ban - until recently. Skyrocketing gasoline and diesel prices have rapidly eroded the previously rock-steady resolve. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey - conducted before presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain announced his support for offshore drilling - finds that 67 percent of voters believe that drilling should be allowed off the coasts of California, Florida and other states. Only 18 percent disagree and 15 percent are undecided. Conservative and moderate voters strongly support this approach, while liberals are more evenly divided (46 percent of liberals favor drilling, 37 percent oppose).

The Rasmussen Report also found that 64 percent of voters believe it is at least somewhat likely that gas prices will go down if offshore oil drilling is allowed, although 27 percent don't believe it. Some 78 percent of conservatives say offshore drilling is at least somewhat likely to drive prices down. That view is shared by 57 percent of moderates and 50 percent of liberal voters.

President Bush has called on Congress to lift decades-old federal bans on offshore drilling along the Atlantic Coast, which he said could yield as many as 18 billion barrels of oil. Lifting that moratorium would let states decide whether to allow drilling off their shores.

But the federal government has said tapping that area wouldn't significantly affect production or prices until 2030.

Durston's visit at the opening of the headquarters on Thursday was intended to highlight his opposition to Lungren on the issue of offshore drilling. Huber was there, in part, to talk numbers. She reportedly told Democrats that convincing 2 percent of decline-to-state voters to cast Democratic ballots in the fall could have a district-wide effect.

During the grand opening of their new headquarters on Friday, members of the Amador County Democratic Central Committee discussed the local political situation and their strategy for coming months.

"Our objective is to register as many more Democrats as we can by November," said Judy Hotchkiss, ACDCC sergeant-at-arms. "The state party," she added, "is providing resources they've never provided before."

The Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee is donating $100,000 to small rural county central committees to use for slate cards. There are 9,377 registered Republicans in Amador, 7,181 registered Democrats and 2,793 voters who decline to state, referred to as DTS.

"A lot of the business people register DTS," said Democrat Kathleen Trenam.

It remains to be seen if the 20 core Democrats, with 40 members in the club and 57 volunteers, can bring about their desired color shift from red to blue. "Or at least to purple," Hotchkiss suggested.

Kelly Scott and The Associated Press contributed to this report.