From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

In just about the same breath during her energy policy speech this morning in Ohio, Gov. Sarah Palin took on Sen. Joe Biden, Exxon Mobil and Sen. Ted Stevens. (Although Stevens was not mentioned by name.)

From her remarks:

"Alaska is the one of the most resource-rich places on earth. Yet for many years, our state's oil and gas wealth was the carefully guarded preserve of the political establishment -- the good ol' boys -- rewarded by a few big oil companies and through an oil services company that liked things just the way they were. As you may have seen in the news this week, Alaska's senior senator is not the first man to discover the hazards of getting too close to moneyed interests with agendas of their own."

For the people of Alaska and their representatives, it had been hard enough to persuade Congress to authorize construction of the original Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline. And when Congress finally acted in 1973, it approved the pipeline over the "No" votes of five senators, including a freshmen senator named Joe Biden.

For the next three decades, there had been talk of building another pipeline to transport cleaner, greener natural gas down to the Lower 48. But that's all it ever amounted to -- talk. And one of the main obstacles was big oil itself -- ExxonMobil and other companies."