WASHINGTON — The mammoth oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has done nothing to alter views on offshore drilling in California's Republican Senate race.
All three candidates remain committed to their original positions, spokesmen for their campaigns said Monday.
Former businesswoman Carly Fiorina and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore both favor lifting a ban against more offshore drilling. And former Rep. Tom Campbell continues to oppose more offshore drilling, but he backs slant drilling from land below the seabed.
"Tom has always opposed offshore drilling," said James Fisfis, Campbell's spokesman.
"Nothing has changed," said Josh Trevino, DeVore's spokesman.
Fiornia spokeswoman Amy Thoma said the former Hewlett Packard chief continued to oppose an offshore drilling ban.
"This situation is a tragedy, but Carly does not support a ban on offshore drilling. Its an economic tragedy for the people of the Gulf Coast and it is certainly is an environmental tragedy, but it is also true that there has been a great deal of offshore drilling that has continued in an environmentally responsible way," Thoma said. "Carly believes it is critically important that we get to the absolute bottom of what happened here and pass regulation if necessary to ensure that it never happens again. However, it would be a gross overreaction to say let's ban all offshore drilling or let's suspend offshore drilling until we understand what happened here or to turn this into a political football."