The Political Climate: an ongoing commentary on the NH Primary and Climate Change

Presidential wannabe Sen. Hillary Clinton will be returning to the Granite State this weekend for the first time since her husband’s presidency.  If we can gauge anything from her recent trip to Iowa, it is likely she won’t be the same person who visited the state before.  According to this article in the New York Times, Clinton surprised Iowans by being assertive and answering questions, which was a different approach since her 1999 “listening tour.”  In her two days in Iowa, she criticized the Bush administration for policies that she said “favored the rich” and for pursuing policies that “encouraged global warming.”  Clinton is expected in Concord and Manchester this weekend.

Today the Senate will hold the first global warming hearing of the year.  It’s the first step towards House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s goal of having Congress pass a global warming bill by July 4th.  “It says to the American people, we are about the future” Pelosi said in this story from USA Today.  But according to this Reuter’s article, 13% of Americans won’t know what a global warming bill is about.  According to an international poll of more than 25,000 internet users, 13% of Americans have never heard of, nor do they know anything about, global warming.  Apparently heightened media coverage and a 70 degree day in January doesn’t grab the attention of all Americans.  Hmm…maybe a global warming segment on American Idol would work?

Also: This Friday, the IPCC issues its third report on global warming.  Apparently, many top US scientists, having reviewed the draft, are alarmed that the International Panel is off the mark on how bad things are going to be, and rumor has it there is a lot of rewriting going on.  It’s bound to be an interesting day, so stay, well, kind of tuned in.