What Are They Waiting For?

Well, after all the lead-up and blather beforehand, it seems to me that the Iowa deal went past in a flash. And now, as the above cartoon shows, the Really Big Campaign Show has hurtled off to New Hampshire. Pundits are saying we'll have our nominees by the time Super Tuesday has blown past, so whatever you do, don't take time to blink. I'm pretty interested in this Saturday's primetime ABC debate among the "top four" Democratic candidates, mainly because my governor has remained standing. I wish I believed Bill Richardson had an icicle's chance in hell of gaining ground in New Hampshire, but it ain't looking too hopeful.

What I'm looking at in these four candidates right now is their proposed policy stance on the environmental problems facing us in the very near future: climate change and what can be done legislatively to slow it down, energy both traditional and alternative, global co-operation (or lack thereof) on these issues. All four of the Democratic candidates who will appear on our TV screens this weekend have well-thought-out complex plans on these subjects, all of them are similar. John Edwards was the first to present such a plan, and Bill Richardson, who claims to want to become "the energy President" has the most aggressive set of proposals. He's been doing a great job on energy issues here in the state as governor, and talks about energy "as the nexus of environmental, national security and economic issues," which of course is exactly what it is.

The media heads who talk with, interview, write about, the candidates need to start featuring the climate crisis and energy policies in their chats with candidates. LCV president Gene Karpinski issued the following statement urging television talk show hosts to question presidential candidates on global warming: " Now it is on to New Hampshire, and it is time for the television media to get on board. LCV’s running tally at www.whataretheywaitingfor.com shows that in 140 interviews and debates so far, TV’s top five political reporters have asked 2,484 questions of the presidential candidates, but have mentioned global warming only three times and asked only 24 questions related to the issue." As voters we need to become as well-informed as possible on these issues. A good place to start would be the How Green Is Your Candidate? page at Grist. Each candidate's website has his/her position on the energy issues, and it's worthwhile to see what they have to say. (Cartoon by Jim Morin from Slate)

Technorati Tags: Bill Richardson, energy questions, Iowa caucuses, presidential candidates

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