11 July 2007The CaucusMichael Falcone
In a recent virtual town hall meeting on climate change with the Democratic presidential candidates sponsored by MoveOn.org, former Senator John Edwards renewed his call to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by 80 percent by 2050 and said that his plan for getting there was the “most aggressive” of any of his opponents.
His stance evidently struck a chord with participants in a straw poll on the liberal advocacy group’s Web site which asked, “Which candidate’s position on dealing with the climate crisis do you prefer?”
Mr. Edwards won the poll, getting about 33 percent of the vote. Representative Dennis Kucinich was the runner-up with about 15 percent support. He barely edged out Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama who rounded out the top four. According to Trevor FitzGibbon, a spokesman for MoveOn, 95,284 people voted online.
MoveOn members gathered at 1,300 house parties across the country last weekend to watch the candidates answer questions on the environment in conjunction with a series of Live Earth concerts organized by Al Gore. The group said it plans to run newspaper ads in Iowa and New Hampshire next week announcing the results.
Last weekend Mr. Edwards also released a new podcast on global warming in which he focused on his plan to make coal-fired power plans cleaner.
Eli Pariser, the executive director of MoveOn, said in a statement that the interest the group has seen among its members on issues like global warming “emphasizes how important it will be for our next president to make solving the climate crisis a top priority in 2008.”
MoveOn held a similar vote after its first virtual town hall on the Iraq war in April. In the voting, Senator Barack Obama came out on top, followed by Mr. Edwards. The group plans to ask the candidates about their views on health care in the fall.
