Barack, John, And… Arnold?
SAN DIEGO– One final thought from this weekend's California Democratic Party convention, as Capitol reporters like me head back north this afternoon:
Is there more common ground on one greenhouse gas issue between Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic presidential candidates… than there is between the governor and California legislative Democrats?
In yesterday's speech by Sen. Barack Obama and today's speech by former Senator John Edwards, there was a small policy point that didn't quite register on first blush.
And that is that Obama and Edwards sound as though they basically agree with Schwarzenegger on the issue of a "cap and trade" system for carbon dioxide emissions.
On Saturday, Obama told the delegates about his stance on energy and environmental issues. And the man from Illinois promised– if elected– to enact the same kind of mandatory "cap and trade" program of carbon emissions favored by Schwarzenegger, but viewed with skepticism by many environmentalists, during last year's debate over AB 32.
That portion of Obama's speech, interestingly, received one of the smallest rounds of applause… in a presentation that elsewhere garnered several standing ovations.
In this portion of the speech, the senator claims a cap and trade system– one where the carbon credits would be auctioned off– would generate "millions of dollars."
But it wasn't just Obama. This morning, the former North Carolina senator told the convention crowd pretty much the same thing… suggesting that the carbon credits which would be bought by polluting companies should be auctioned off to the highest bidder. That's something the governor's climate market panel has also suggested. Click here for more of Edwards' global warming and energy comments.
This isn't a huge revelation that Schwarzenegger has something in common with Democrats (some Republicans would say that, and more). But Democrats and traditionally Democratic interest groups (enviros particularly) have not coalesced in California around the cap-and-trade system… in fact, strongly rejecting the system be mandated under AB 32.
Their national standard-bearers, it seems, are painting a different picture.
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John Myers is Sacramento Bureau Chief for KQED's The California Report, heard on public radio stations around the state. More about John...
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