The Green Gap: Republican Candidates and Climate Change

Nov. 27, 2007 — -- At the end of last week, the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., began running an unusual radio spot in New Hampshire.

In it, McCain says: "I think the time is past when we argue about whether climate change is real or not. We have an obligation to future generations to take action and fix it."

McCain framed the issue in terms of reducing dependence on foreign oil and national security, positions unlikely to offend conservative voters. But what was unusual was that he was raising it at all.

The other top GOP contenders, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, rarely talk about global warming. When they do, it is usually in response to a question at one of their campaign events.

"Most of the Republican candidates are talking about core Republican issues," says political analyst Stuart Rothenberg. "They talk taxes. They talk about the size of government. They talk about national security. Those issues are what Republicans are comfortable talking about, and that's what most Republican voters want to hear. McCain is the exception.

"Politicians are very cautious and they prefer to talk about things they're comfortable talking about, and that they know voters want to hear. Republican [candidates] think they can talk about taxes with certainty and size of government. But when they get to the environment, they are afraid that bringing up the subject can alienate some conservatives."

When the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report on Nov. 18 containing an almost apocalyptic vision of what is likely to ensue unless the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions begins as soon as five years from now, the GOP presidential candidates were quiet.

Instead, the Democrats appear to have co-opted the issue of climate change, in no small part due to Al Gore's association with the issue through his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," which won an Oscar this year, and the Bush administration's early position as a global warming skeptic. Also, the Democratic presidential candidates regularly, if often, generally talk about the issue.