Four Senators, Four Candidates ... Four Planes?

April 27, 2007 — -- The life of a presidential candidate is hectic, with flights from one campaign stop to the next.

Yesterday's schedule was even more manic for four candidates who are doing double-duty as U.S. senators.

Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Barack Obama, D-Ill., Joe Biden, D-Del., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn., all had to be in Washington, D.C., for the Senate vote on the Iraq spending bill, which set a withdrawal deadline of October for U.S. troops.

It was also the day of the first debate for the presidential candidates of the '08 season. However, despite all being in Washington, and all needing to be in South Carolina, none of the candidates traveled together.

Instead Biden took a private plane and the three other senators each chartered individual flights.

Hey guys, what about plane-pooling?

Environmental groups have been encouraging the presidential candidates to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.

"The biggest environmental concern with private jet flights is the carbon footprint," said David Willett, spokesperson for the Sierra Club. "Using a private jet particularly rather than a commercial jet, you're adding another flight so you are increasing the amount of carbon dioxide being emitted and that impacts global warming."

Why Plane-Pooling Might Not Be an Idea That 'Takes Off'

However Willett said the political reality of the modern presidential campaign makes flying necessary.

"There isn't really any way for presidential candidate to avoid having to fly," said Willett, "and for security reasons and scheduling reasons going to be times when they need to take charter flights from campaign stop to campaign stop for sure."

Plus, there's the awkward political reality that the candidates are in competition with one another.

Even though the candidates showed a united front against President Bush at Thursday's debate, soon the gloves will come off and it'll be every man -- and woman -- for themselves.

Willett also concedes that candidates can't often rely on commercial flights to get them and their staff where they need to be on time.

"There are definitely going to be times when they had to take a vote but they don't know when the vote's going to be, and then they had to be somewhere like a debate that's at a hard and fast time that they really can't be late for," Willett said.

Edwards and Hillary Have Gone 'Carbon-Neutral'

Some of the Democratic presidential front-runners have won praise from environmental groups for attempting to run "carbon-neutral" campaigns by purchasing carbon offsets, a kind of carbon credit, to counteract the carbon emitted during campaign travel.

Last week, Clinton marked Earth Day by announcing her campaign was going carbon neutral and would try to conserve by using recycled paper, installing motion-sensor lights and encouraging staff to take public transit.

"In order to address the climate crisis, we all must act -- and that includes our campaign," Clinton said in a statement.

Former Sen. John Edwards was the first '08 candidate to go carbon neutral last month.

"If you buy these carbon offsets or credits, you're basically paying to have someone else produce less carbon to make up for the carbon that you're emitting," said Willett. Carbon offsets often go toward creating carbon sinks -- planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide emissions or paying for companies to use wind power instead of burning coal.

However, Willett said, "We can't solve global warming by purchasing offsets."

The Politics of Flying

Democratic candidates aren't alone in flying privately.

Federal Election Commission rules allow candidates to pay what amounts to a first-class ticket to fly on corporate-owned private jets. Congress is considering legislation that would require senators to pay full charter rates when flying on corporate rates.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney flies on corporate jets and pays first-class rates.Edwards -- a former trial lawyer -- also pays first-class rates, flying on a plane belonging to wealthy Dallas trial lawyer Fred Baron, the finance chair of his campaign.

However, some candidates, like Obama and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have eschewed private planes to avoid the appearance of being beholden to big business or special interests.