Shaheen, who served three terms as governor, from 1997 to 2003, visited customers and employees Friday afternoon at Lindy's Diner in Keene as part of her bid for the seat held by Republican John E. Sununu, whom she ran against unsuccessfully in 2002.

Afterward, she sat down with The Sentinel to discuss the steps she wants taken to confront the rising cost of filling one's tank.

"Middle-class families in New Hampshire and across the country need some relief," Shaheen said. "While families are struggling with the high cost of food and gas at the pump and anything else that gets transported by diesel and gas, the oil companies are making record profits.

"My concern, and I think it's the concern of a lot of people, is that it's not just supply-and-demand market forces that are affecting the cost of oil and gas, that it's speculation that's going on in the market."

Shaheen wants a loophole closed that allows two of three exchanges in which oil and gas are traded not to have oversight, and said any fraud should be investigated.

"There was an Exxon executive that testified before the Senate last month who said that if you just look at market forces for gasoline, that the price would be $50 to $55 a barrel," Shaheen said. "Clearly there's something else going on. We need to look at that, and we need to make some changes in what we allow within the commodities market."

Shaheen also proposed amending American antitrust laws to allow the United States to hold OPEC countries accountable for any market manipulation, and to pressure them to increase production.

She also wants the American government to stop filling the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to release 30 million barrels of oil and to increase the amount of oil coming from domestic sources.

"Output from refineries is at its lowest point since Hurricane Katrina. They're only operating at about 85 percent of capacity," Shaheen said. "Here we've got a president and vice president who are closer to the oil and gas industry than any in the history of the country. President Bush went over to Saudi Arabia to talk about the price of oil. He ought to be operating right here at home with those refiners, using the bully pulpit."

And energy policies should move toward alternative, efficient and renewable sources, Shaheen said. She referenced Mascoma Corp., a company with a research laboratory in Lebanon that creates biofuel from forest byproducts.

"Not only do we reduce our reliance on foreign oil by investing in new energy technologies, but we create jobs," Shaheen said.

"And they're jobs that aren't going overseas, but they're going to be right here at home. I think about what a boost it would be to the North Country, for example."

Nuclear energy remains an option, too, Shaheen said.

"It is, again, something that I don't think we should be subsidizing, just as I don't think we should be subsidizing oil companies," she said. "And we've got to figure out how we're going to deal with the waste."