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

Once again, climate change was not an issue at the Democratic debate at Dartmouth last night.  As one FOTPC put it in an e-mail we received this morning, “Did I miss something or was there no global warming discussion other than the self-immolation question of $10/gallon gasoline?” 

There has been an odd pattern of omitting questions about global warming in all of the debates so far.  We’ve heard all of the candidates talk about the issue at their campaign stops, but have yet to see it be part of a national debate - what’s the deal?! 

Even NH political expert and UNH professor Dante Scala commented on The Exchange this morning that “If you have time to talk about the Red Sox, I know they are important, but why not talk about things like global warming.”  NHIOP Senior Advisor Jennifer Donahue also commented to a green party caller that “If things continue to remain only on a few issues, and they don’t go further and we don’t discuss global warming and we don’t discuss the environment, there are going to be a lot of people like Zeek out there who decide that this is a race with no green in it.”

It’s difficult to say who’s to blame for the lack of discussion on global warming at the debates, but the fact remains that NH voters who are concerned about climate change have yet to hear the candidates formally debate or communicate their priorities on the issue.  It is even more disconcerting when we consider that last night was most likely the last debate to take place in NH before the primary. 

Rachel Courtney of Dublin NH, shared her concerns about this last week in a letter to the Keene Sentinel.  Rachel also noted that it’s not too late to hear from the candidates and that all of the Democratic and Republican potential nominees have been invited to communicate their priorities about climate change at the Global Warming & Energy Solutions conference this October.

An op-ed from The Dallas Morning News yesterday commented on President Bush’s absence from the UN Climate Change discussions the other day saying that “The president’s unwillingness to join the debate is disappointing. And it sends a dangerous message, providing cover for other countries reluctant to take action.” 

The op-ed notes that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assured that the U.S. “takes this challenge very seriously.”  The author commented that the president can back that up by participating in future negotiations.  Similarly, if the presidential candidates are going to take the challenge seriously, they must also participate in the discussion and communicate their priorities on climate change action.