Presidential candidate John McCain unfurled part of a plan to cut down on oil consumption and imports. Some of it makes sense, but some of it is grounded in politics and, I think, a too-glossy view of how the transportation market works. Here are the highlights: 1. A $5,000 tax credit for people buying a zero emissions car. That works. It's a pretty hefty credit, but since there aren't many zero emissions electric cars out there, the Federal government won't find itself in a budget crunch for a few years. Still, it gives an incentive for companies to produce them and consumers to buy them. One of the reasons electric cars have failed to date to catch fire with consumers is the comparatively high price. 2. A $300 million prize for developing an electric car battery that leapfrog's current capabilities. A nice bonus for anyone who gets it, but probably a red herring. Contests are rapidly becoming what advertising was to late 90s Internet companies: an easy, if unlikely, answer to all of your problems. The DARPA Challenge helped jumpstart a push into robotic cars, but that's been the principle accomplishment. (Besides, the Department of Defense, which supports DARPA, is probably the primary consumer of robotic cars.) The Ansari X Prize allowed a man to get into space, but do you really think we will have space tourism any day soon? Venture money is already flooding into batteries. Researchers around the world are also bending their minds to the task. A123 Systems, Firefly and even Exxon Mobil are trying to improve batteries. In other words, large amounts of capital and know-how are already on the job. And to top it off, the Department of Energy doesn't have a great record for follow-through. Remember the hydrogen highway? The FutureGen clean coal project? The contest won't change it much, but it will look nice on paper. 3. Eliminate the effect of tariffs and subsidies on ethanol. Subsidies and tariffs distort market forces. True, but getting a new industry off the ground sometimes requires government support. Brazil subsidized ethanol for around 15 years before eliminating tariffs, and it eliminated tariffs because it could no longer afford them. Subsidies, in other words, may have to stick around for a bit to help get the U.S. industry off the ground. And even after Brazil got rid of the subsidies, the government continues to support the industry. Gas stations serve up fuel that consists of 20 to 24 percent ethanol. Oh, that darn market interference again. 4. Flex fuel cars will help solve the problem. General Motors produces lots of flex fuel vehicles now. Unfortunately, there are very few stations in the U.S. that pump ethanol. The total comes to around 1,400. We will need 15,000, according to GM. Unless more stations pop up, and the government mandates a larger percentage of ethanol in regular gas, flex fuel cars won't change the picture much 5. But, most important, his platform isn't entirely based around drilling for oil. Give him pointers for that.