Last Thursday's hearing with BP CEO Tony Hayward has given Democrats an issue that they will try to exploit this election year, that being the apology given to Hayward by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX).

Democrats wasted little time using it to appeal for campaign donations, sensing that they could put GOP candidates on the defensive.

"Think about it," read one fundraising email from the Democratic National Committee, "In the Gulf right now, jobs are being lost, ecosystems are being destroyed, an entire way of life is being upended.  And Joe Barton is apologizing to the oil company that caused the disaster."

Barton's focus was the $20 billion damages fund set up by BP at the urging of the White House, designed to speed money to businesses hit hard by the Gulf oil spill.

"It is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, in this case a $20 billion dollar shakedown," Barton said at the hearing.

But Barton then went one step further at the hearing and apologized to Hayward for the White House effort.

GOP Leaders scrambled quickly and threatened to pull Barton from his slot as the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee unless he retracted his apology, which he did.

But that hasn't quieted a handful of Republicans from the Gulf who want Barton ousted from his post.

"Mr. Barton's remarks are out of touch with this tragedy," said Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL), who represents the western part of the Florida Panhandle.  Miller along with Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL) have been most critical of Barton.

Miller's district was still steaming about Barton's comments on Sunday, as the editorial board of the Pensacola News-Journal blistered the idea that Gulf Coast businesses who get money from the $20 billion damages fund are somehow doing something wrong.

"This morning, we would like the people of Northwest Florida to know that they're involved in a "slush fund"," the Sunday editorial began.

"Yes, the hotel owners, restaurant owners, tackle shop operators, those who have lost thousands of dollars, and stand to lose thousands more without make-it-right compensation from BP, are really part of a $20 billion "shakedown.""

"Or so some Republicans believe."

Look for Democrats to bring this one up every chance they can get in coming weeks.  It's a breaking ball over the plate that doesn't break.  A hanging curveball.  

It's a 30 second ad that writes itself, and allows Democrats to talk about something other than whether the Obama Administration has been doing the job on the oil cleanup.

There is a statistic in tennis called unforced errors.  If you notch too many of those in an election year, you can lose a few games that you should have won.