NORTH CONWAY, N.H. (AP) – After spending the week focused on her long-term energy plan, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton faced a voter with more short-term concerns Thursday.

The New York senator met Thursday with nine voters at the Cranmore Mountain ski area in North Conway, a town heavily dependent on tourism. John Arruda, who owns a greeting card and novelty shop, told Clinton that tourists are spending less as they struggle with rising energy costs.

“It takes money out of their pocket,” he said. “Being in retail, I feel that almost immediately. I understand you have a long-term plan. But in the short term, what can you do to help Americans in the Northeast with heating oil prices that are $3 a gallon?”

To meet immediate needs, Clinton said she has supported more money for the federal Low Income Energy Assistance Program. And she said the government should do more to investigate what is causing oil prices to rise.

“I think we should be much tougher in saying we’re going to get to the bottom of these price hikes,” she said.

As for the high prices, Clinton said part of the blame lies with the Bush administration.

“I honestly believe that part of the reason the oil prices have spiked recently is because it’s clear we’re not going to have a decent energy policy under President Bush … because we’re not doing anything to help ourselves,” she said.

Clinton made a similar argument later in Somersworth, where a voter who described himself as an international businessman asked her how she would address the decreasing value of the dollar compared to other currencies.

“This is killing my business,” he said. “All my international competitors are taking over what I used to do.”

Clinton listed several ways she believes the Bush administration has not acted fiscally responsible, including in not doing enough to promote renewable sources of energy. She said oil prices would come down if the administration took a serious stand.

“Markets are not just about reality, markets are about psychology,” she said. “Because the United States has refused to be responsible about how we’re going to get off our dependence of foreign oil, the people who produce the oil feel like they can just raise the price because we’re stuck over the barrel – the oil barrel.”

In North Conway, Clinton’s gathering included several employees of the ski area, which several years ago became the first one in the Northeast to use cleaner bio-diesel fuel to run its snow grooming equipment.

“We’re at place that has a well deserved reputation for trying to get ahead of the curve on issues I think are important,” said Clinton, who has spent the week plugging her plan for a $50 billion strategic energy fund and other initiatives. “We’ve just got to start moving as rapidly as is feasible toward our twin challenges of energy independence and global warming.”

She said the government should subsidize efforts to expand bio-diesel use, as well as solar, wind and geothermal power.

“You have to get to a critical mass where people say, ‘Oh, it can work,’ just like you’re talking about here,” she said.

AP-ES-11-08-07 1724EST