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Politics Tuesday: It's True--The Candidates Really Don't Talk About Climate

By jjacquet on December 11, 2007.

Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org

All right, here's more grist for the mill on the issue of whether climate is a campaign issue, and the answer is pretty clearly "No."

This story on Grist analyzed the stump speeches of the major candidates and how much time they devoted to the issue of climate change in those speeches.

The result? "Climate change remains a minor issue for the major Democratic Party contenders for president, who devoted, on average, just 15 seconds -- or 2.6 percent of their speeches -- to the problem."

Very depressing, considering that the "officially unelected president" Al Gore received his Nobel Peace Prize this week, and the public is ready to have the conversation.

Maybe it will get more attention once the nominees are set, and distinctions can be drawn more sharply, but I have to say I'm not hopeful at this point.

And it makes the idea of having a debate on science and technology, as Jennifer has suggested, I think a longshot a best. But hey, longshots do win some time, and we need to keep pounding if we're going to get the candidates to start talking.

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Ocean Politics

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