What kind of publicity stunt type of campaigning is this? Using tax dollars as a prize? Do the American people own it, if we’re using taxpayer money as an award?

The presumed Republican nominee is proposing a $300 million government prize to whoever can develop an automobile battery that far surpasses existing technology. The bounty would equate to $1 for every man, woman and child in the country, “a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency,” McCain said in remarks prepared for delivery Monday at Fresno State University in California.

Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to just offer tax incentives instead?