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Democrats Concerned Divisions on Energy Could Cost the White House
August 24, 2008 8:59 PM
ABC News' Viviana Hurtado reports: As Hillary Clinton supporters and anti-war protestors join die-hard Democrats in Denver this week, one protest that won’t be easily discerned is the tension in the Democratic Party over energy policy.
Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, who will address the Democratic Caucus on Tuesday, says, "Energy is the one issue that is consuming all the political oxygen in the congressional races, especially the tight races, the ones where we’re in peril, and those we want."
He also believes that if his party does not take the lead on comprehensive energy legislation soon, it could jeopardize the Democrats’ bid for the White House. The legislator from Hawaii says, "This is the issue where we’re having the daylights beat out of us by Republicans and [this issue] can tip close states. ... This is Senator Obama’s election to win."
Abercrombie co-authored HR 6709 with House colleague John Peterson, R-Pa. The National Conservation, Environment and Energy Independence Act is a comprehensive energy bill the centerpiece of which features off-shore oil drilling to finance the development of alternative fuels. With more than 130 Democrats and Republicans on board, he hopes the House of Representatives will vote on this bill in September. The next steps would be for this legislation to be reconciled with a similar proposal in the Senate, before it would be signed into law by the next President.
Presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama, followed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, recently said he is open to offshore oil drilling as part of a comprehensive energy package. With the economy the No. 1 issue facing voters and with gas prices still high, "the political tectonic plates are shifting considerably," says Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., who is one of the signers of HR 6709.
But the change is not enough to be reflected in the draft of the platform that will be presented this week at the Democratic convention. Offshore oil drilling is too controversial to be presented as part of the platform.
Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., co-sponsor of HR 6709, says, "If we could change the platform to show us as centrists, it would take the wind out of the Republicans and give us momentum coming out of the convention. But many convention-goers are activists. They would not support this change."
Democratic supporters of comprehensive energy legislation like HR 6709 confirm they will not play hardball at the convention by introducing an amendment to the platform. But they will continue to pressure the party’s leaders and the Democratic ticket to make comprehensive energy policy, including offshore oil drilling, their top priority.
August 24, 2008 in Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (51)
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"Obama's super-stardom is not holding. His complete lack of experience, lack of good judgment and arrogance is shining through."
Hey DNC Party leaders - are you guys nervous? Well you should be. You deserve it.
Dem for McCain
Posted by: JKan | Aug 24, 2008 10:38:50 PM
JUST CAUGHT YOU
ALTERNATE FUELS ARE THE ANSWER as the money will stay here we all would benifit--as for the surge i predicted that as the factons were coming to gether and were after the insurgents months before the surge----i knew bush would do that as a last ditch effort to give some validity to his actions which were a lie to start with--WMD WHERE.YOU WILL LEARN A LOT MORE ABOUT MCCAIN BEFORE THE ELECTON.
Posted by: rodney | Aug 24, 2008 10:44:34 PM
Democrats concerned divisions on energy could cost the White House?? It ain't just divisions on energy...it's the fact they can't come up with a decent candidate! The division's are also race and gender. They have no moral values.
I know that doesn't really matter to a lot of you, but it does to some Americans. This was your election and you will blow it again!
Posted by: Ed | Aug 24, 2008 10:56:23 PM
just maybe i know too much about mccain.
you can start with how someone that was at the bottom of his class in school - could possibly get into the naval acadamy and as a pilot which took very intelligent people only---family influence----i would prefer if you got the rest of his true history elsewhere.
as mccain for alternate energy if you remember obama started that and mccain made fun about it --windmills is obama crazy- words right from mccains mouth.guess that is why i have called him the super parrot
Posted by: rodney | Aug 24, 2008 10:57:48 PM
davis
biden will give mccain nightmares--and he knows it--wait till he loses his temper completely.
Posted by: rodney | Aug 24, 2008 11:01:04 PM
David from Tex..
Yeah, man, they blew it. I told them months ago that Hillary would lose... and she did. I'm telling them now that Obama will lose. In a couple months you will see! It doesn't even matter who McCain picks for VP!! I'm an independent and we are the ones who will determine this thing. The far left and the far right are just too far!!
Posted by: Ed | Aug 24, 2008 11:05:02 PM
david
with todays children
GOOD LUCK
GOODNIGHT
Posted by: rodney | Aug 24, 2008 11:05:45 PM
I want a windfall profit tax on all the alternative energy sources which are guaranteed to make a profit because of government subsidies.
Posted by: Sluggo | Aug 24, 2008 11:11:15 PM
John McCain and Barack Obama are exactly tied at 45% in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update. There was no immediate boost to Obama’s support coincident with the announcement of Joe Biden as his running mate.
Bye Bye Obama
Posted by: Samantha | Aug 24, 2008 11:12:43 PM
The Democrat Party has made this mess! It is about energy and all the other issues we are concerned about. The Party and the Superdelegates rammed the nominee down our throats. We do not believe that he has the knowledge and the experience to lead. Having Biden prop him up still does not mean he is ready.
They were so anxious to force Hillary out way before most of the primaries had been held, so that Obama would have time to "pivot" for the general election? What a joke! He wasn't ready then, and he is not ready now. Give us some more show business so that we might actually believe he is Presidential. He is not. We have listened to everything he has said and found him to be a real double-talker.
John McCain is the straight talker with real experience and knowledge of the issues. He is a real hero with experience that means something.
FROM THE HANOI HILTON TO THE WHITEHOUSE!
McCain '08
Posted by: georgia | Aug 24, 2008 11:27:13 PM
"If we could change the platform to show us as centrists, it would take the wind out of the Republicans and give us momentum coming out of the convention. But many convention-goers are activists. They would not support this change."
------------------------
But what is the point in electing a Democrat that will behave like a Republican? If I want a Republican in office, I will vote for the real thing.
Posted by: DennisNC | Aug 24, 2008 11:57:59 PM
Why ruin the environment any more drilling everywhere? The BIG oil companies have said that instead of them being satisfied with making a "reasonable" profit (and curbing their greed) they would put more of that (than last year) into finding other means of energy. I've noticed nothing.Maybe it's time that every home possible shoule have a wind turbine and solar panel via oil companies.
Posted by: drowningamerican | Aug 25, 2008 12:10:54 AM
The republican/democrat thing is a gimic anymore. I agree with "sluggo" It's all Americans going down unless we harshly deal with the serious issues like big business and CEO's only in it for huge profits. Gov't payments and spending needing to be revamped from the top, down.Way out of control, and obvious,but no one high up has the balls to begin dealing with this mess.
Posted by: get-real-people | Aug 25, 2008 12:55:02 AM
Barack Obama & Nancy Pelosi deep down love high gas prices to appease their environmental supporters.
They are so out of touch with middle America.
Posted by: John from FL | Aug 25, 2008 1:06:33 AM
rodney I may not end up voting McCain but I disagree with you about McCain's intelligence. Obama wasn't pulling very good grades in varied schools either but one of the differences is that McCain, himself, is always bringing up his fourth at the bottom of the class in his sometimes self-deprecating sense of humor. McCain is supposedly a voracious reader and doesn't just read the funnies but has been a Niebuhr reading guy himself as Obama has. McCain partied his way through school and people who are familiar with McCain
have talked about how he really would have preferred to go to someplace like Princeton but his path was already somewhat set for him. Stories we've heard about him in pilot school would indicate his learning style is probably more hands-on then someone like an Obama and his presentation, as we saw at Saddleback, is clearly the direct opposite of Obama. Neither his place in school, learning style nor way he articulates himself says anything about his intelligence. One of the things clearly many like about McCain and sometimes fear about Obama is that McCain is clearly more of a doer and Obama more a thinker. Obama talks about bi-partisan work yet McCain has the record; Obama talks about seeing merit in opposing viewpoints and again McCain's positions on some issues such as global warming and immigration are more in line with the Democrats; Obama talks about sticking up to one's party and yet McCain has the record. At Saddleback when Obama was asked about bi-partisan work he gave two examples and one included work he'd done with McCain and he pointed out that they both
were not popular with their respective
parties at the time as a result. Whereas
McCain can reel off a laundry list of examples of bi-partisan work and having bbeen in opposition to his own party.
I think these two have very different styles in almost every capacity and that isn't a good or bad rather they are just different. I don't think though that you can underestimate McCain's intelligence though.
Posted by: alpaig52 | Aug 25, 2008 1:13:43 AM
i cannot believe that obama chose biden. in fact , the two together obama/biden, sounds like osama bin laden. give me a damn break. hillary should have won the democratic nomination, as the dnc via howard dean, chose to steal her delegates and give them to osama. what a rip off. add two more dems, me and my sis, are not going to vote this year, as there is no choice to be made, hillary is not in the election.....god help denver...look out..
Posted by: carlasue | Aug 25, 2008 1:47:13 AM
Some Obama ads try to paint John McCain as a "Big Oil" guy... the truth of the matter is Obama's policies make Obama a "Big Foreign Oil" guy... it's Obama's (Democrats) policies that have us so dependent on foreign oil... and only now that's it's becoming clear they're going to lose votes because of it they start to "consider" domestic drilling. So let's not forget who got us into the energy mess we're in.
Posted by: Up Yours Obama | Aug 25, 2008 4:03:07 AM
What will they do if there is no post convention bounce due to more Hillarians moving away from Big O?
Posted by: Obama-Yah-Wright | Aug 25, 2008 4:27:29 AM
wow, osama bin biden is expecting at least a 10% bump in the polls afte the convention....doubt it....he really, and royally screwed up. hillary made her mark on this election...our voices will be heard....look out denver.
Posted by: carlasue | Aug 25, 2008 4:39:23 AM
Yea geevill if you think McCain cares about the average american family unless yours are one of the ones that earn 5 mill a year, you sure need to think again. McCain's too busy deciding which of the seven dining tables he will eat at!!!!!
Posted by: merle7 | Aug 25, 2008 6:13:06 AM
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