Oh-eight (D): A risky issue for Dems?
Posted: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 9:10 AM by Mark Murray
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Democrats
The Washington Post wonders if the Democrats’ plans to combat global warming could end up being political liabilities. “According to energy expert Tracy Terry's analysis of a recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology study, under the scenario of an 80 percent reduction in emissions from 1990 levels, by 2015 Americans could be paying 30 percent more for natural gas in their homes and even more for electricity. At the same time, the cost of coal could quadruple and crude oil prices could rise by an additional $24 a barrel.”
BIDEN: Per NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann, Biden's campaign -- which has heavily courted legislative endorsements -- picked up its 12th nod from the Iowa statehouse yesterday. State Sen. Herman Quirmbach of Ames endorsed Biden last night.
CLINTON: The
New York Times writes about Clinton's energy plan, which she rolled out in Iowa yesterday. "Clinton’s energy plan also included several ideas that were in an energy speech last month by a rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. Similar to Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton called for reducing carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. She also called for a ‘cap and trade’ auction system in which businesses would buy allowances to pollute, creating incentives to reduce emissions or to limit energy use."
More: "Republican Party officials and some leaders of utility and energy groups were critical of Mrs. Clinton’s plan. One environmental group, Friends of the Earth Action, which has endorsed a Clinton rival, former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, questioned whether she would oppose a Senate bill that would reduce gas emissions at a slower rate than she proposed Monday." And don’t miss the fact that the Clinton campaign touts she consulted Al Gore on her plan.
NBC/NJ's Athena Jones followed Clinton in Iowa yesterday, where the candidate laid out her clean energy policy in Cedar Rapids, then made three campaign stops where she mostly stuck to her usual stump speech, with a bit of her energy policy tossed in. Clinton modified her speech a little at a middle school in Oelwein to get the students involved, but made no news. At stops, she was asked about raising the minimum wage, veterans’ issues, Iran, Iraq, education, who she'd choose as vice president, her stance on torture, and her goals for her first 100 days.
Jones also reports that Clinton was asked by a young woman at a campaign event yesterday whether she thought a woman could be president. "We won't know 'til we try, so I'm trying and we'll see what happens and I feel very good about the fair treatment and response that I'm getting," she said. Clinton then went on to repeat her statement from Friday that her opponents piled on her after last week’s debate because she's winning -- not because she's a woman.
Not the headlines Clinton wants from her hometown tabloids. The New York Daily News: “Hillary Clinton's lead drops in latest polls.” The New York Post: "Hillary’s lead driven down.”
DODD: The Chicago Tribune's Lightman checks in on Dodd and wonders why there is such optimism in the campaign, even as his poll numbers continue to remain near asterisk levels. “‘If I thought this polling were real, if I thought this would be the outcome in January, of course we'd be packing up this bus and driving to Connecticut right now,’ he says. He rattles off all the fall front-runners from years past, taking particular delight in how Bill Clinton was a decided underdog back in autumn 1991. Yes, he's told, that was so, but it was a different era, when candidates did not even formally begin their efforts until September or October.”
Meanwhile, Chris Dodd’s six-year-old daughter enrolled in kindergarten in Des Moines.
EDWARDS: Much has been made of Edwards' attempt to recast this race as Clinton versus Edwards, brushing aside that Obama is a factor. Edwards rarely mentions Obama but was asked by the New York Times about him. "Answering questions aboard his campaign van as it rumbled through eastern Iowa on Sunday, Mr. Edwards also suggested that Mr. Obama lacked the fight needed to win the presidency and to change Washington, saying it was not enough to promise to be a unifier. ‘The notion that these entrenched interests are going to compromise away their powers is a fantasy,’ Mr. Edwards said.”
As for the Iowa campaign, the Times adds: "While Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama have been advertising for months, Mr. Edwards began his first significant television campaign last week. The campaign is sending more fliers and brochures to voters — including a colorful biographical piece featuring a picture of a young Mr. Edwards in a football uniform — because the spending limit for mail applies only to the final 28 days of the race. So when the other candidates are sending out a flurry of last-minute mailers, aides concede that Mr. Edwards could be at a disadvantage."
The Edwards campaign’s anti-Clinton video, “The Politics of Parsing,” was viewed by “more than a quarter-million people,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
OBAMA: Chicago Sun-Times' Harper checks in with Obama's close adviser Valerie Jarrett, whose decision to travel with Obama was seen as a major moment a few months back. "She now travels with Obama and was in South Carolina with him over the weekend. Her increased involvement in the campaign shows. Jarrett, however, takes no credit for Obama's zeal. ‘It's coming from his heart and soul,’ she said. ‘Maybe it's the next evolution of the campaign. The subject matter touched him deeply.’” (She was referring to a civil rights talk he gave in South Carolina.)
The Boston Globe’s Canellos notes that Edwards’ “powerful critique” of Clinton, “rooted enough in what voters have seen of Clinton …just might succeed in handing the Democratic nomination to Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.” His evidence? Four years ago, when, ironically, a positive Edwards was the beneficiary of attacks on frontrunner Howard Dean.
RICHARDSON: The New Mexico governor often touts his ability to work with foreign leaders, as well as those across the aisle, for the benefit of the country. In Des Moines yesterday, he had the opportunity to display these talents while presenting a Purple Heart to the family of a Korea Veteran, NBC’s Lauren Appelbaum and Elissa Davis report. "As many of you know, for many years, I have been negotiating with the North Koreans," Richardson said at the American Legion Hispanic Post 731. "In fact, President Clinton used to say that bad people like Richardson, so we'll send him to talk with them."
On a bipartisan trip to North Korea last April, Richardson negotiated the release of the remains of Corporal Clem Robert Boody. The remains were positively identified as Boody's in September, and hi niece, Stacey Brewer, contacted Richardson to let him know. She also told him that although Boody had been awarded the Purple Heart, her family had been trying unsuccessfully for years to get the award from the Defense Department.
Richardson commented on the bipartisan nature of the effort and stressed his work was for the country and not political gain. "I realized at the time that I was a candidate for president, and that it was important that an event like this, the return of the remains, should not be politicized."
