Concord, NH -- Whenever you win with an election by more than 90 percent, you are either in North Korea, or your opponents are brain-dead. New Hampshire this week had such a Pyongyang moment, sending the presidential candidates of both parties a message -- you are in serious danger of becoming irrelevant, if you do nothing on global warming.
Of 181 New Hampshire towns that will vote this winter (or spring as it may turn out) on global warming, 113 so far have voted that the Congress should act to reduce U.S. greenhouse pollution, while only eight have decided not to support such national action--and some elections are still to be held. These are staggering mandates.
Former Senator John Edwards does seem to have been listening acutely -- he told student climate activists that he would join them by comitting himself to an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse pollution by 2050. And the states are moving. Sierra Club Minnesota lobbyist Brian Pasko reports that, "After over nine (yes, 9 -- almost 10) hours of testimony and debate, our House Energy Committee referred the Minnesota Global Warming Mitigation Act of 2007 to the House Floor with a 13-6 bipartisan vote."
But the nation's capital continues to be the capital of trivial pursuits -- in spite of tremendous efforts by leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Todd Platts (R-PA), Congress continues to be timid and afraid of a vision the nation has embraced and the actions the public is demanding.