Bachmann’s unlikely campaign promise: $2 gas

This could be the least serious campaign promise of the year. While on the trail in South Carolina this week, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann vowed that if elected president, gasoline prices would fall to less than $2 per gallon.

"Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 per gallon again," Bachmann said during a town hall meeting in Greenville, S.C., according to The Hill newspaper. "That will happen."

To accomplish this, Bachmann said, she would encourage more oil drilling by opening up spaces currently under federal protection and reduce restrictions and regulation on oil companies. The national average for the price of gas is currently $3.60 per gallon.

Of course, there's a chance prices could drop below $2 during a Bachmann presidency, and lowering the price of business by easing regulation might even reduce the price of gas. But no single politician--even a deregulator in chief--can predict with certainty the forces in the turbulent world market that will affect prices in the next week, let alone in two years.