MANCHESTER – Motorists facing nearly $4-a-gallon prices as they pulled up to the pumps at a Manchester station got a surprise during the afternoon rush hour. They didn’t have to pay federal or state taxes, cutting their bills by 46 cents a gallon.

The rebates were the idea of Dean Scontras, a Republican candidate for the 1st District congressional seat.

Scontras, who greeted motorists at the J&S Oil Express Stop pumps, says his energy plan calls for a gas tax holiday. His campaign bankrolled Wednesday’s rebates at the station in Manchester, near Augusta.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has called for a gas tax holiday, as has Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In Maine, one of the six Democratic candidates in the 1st District primary race – Mark Lawrence – has embraced the fuel tax holiday.