In March 2007, Democratic primary contender John Edwards released an ambitious climate and energy plan, calling for greenhouse gas reductions of 80 percent by 2050, a cap-and-trade program with auctioned permits, and a ban on conventional dirty coal plants.

At that point in the race, conventional wisdom was that Edwards was trying to stake out the left and Hillary was going for the center -- leaving Obama either nowhere to go, if you saw it like your average corpulent...