It's not in Kaine's plan but the gas tax is on the table...

You just pumped some $3.60 cent gasoline this morning, and then you find out that Senate Majority Leader Richard "Dick" Saslaw, D-Fairfax, is ticked off that Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's transportation plan doesn't include higher gas taxes.

This is another wrinkle in the runup to the special session on transportation, Senate Democrats - including Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton - want some kind of gas tax as part of the statewide transportation plan. But that's not flying with Kaine and House Democrats like House Majority Leader Ward Armstong and Del. Brian Moran.

This is an expected divide, but it could be a important rift in the transportation debate, and look for Republicans to try to exploit these differences as a way to scuttle Kaine's plan.

Here are some telling quotes from a Washington Post story this morning.

"I just don't think we can impose [a gas tax] on the public when they are already paying three dollars and 60 cents a gallon," Armstrong said. "We all have constituents that are struggling to put gas in their car."

Kaine and Democrats commissioned a poll six weeks ago that found more than 80 percent of residents oppose a 15-cent-a-gallon increase in the gas tax.

Saslaw shot back at the House Democrats: "I don't run the state on polls, and if Brian and Ward want to run the state on the polls, that is their problem."

Saslaw said Kaine's plan should include a way to charge out-of-state motorists for the costs associated with maintaining Virginia's highways.

"To me, the out-of-state people ought to be paying this bill," Saslaw said. "Ward Armstrong and Brian Moran want to lay this entire thing on the people of Virginia."

Moran responded, "If you talk to your neighbors and your friends, you will find out people are hurting when they fill up their gas tanks."

Not exactly a unified front.