Bill Richardson

Yesterday, when I was watching the CNN/YouTube Democratic debate I noticed that there was a significant number of Californian's questions that were selected to be asked of the candidates. Out of the 38 questions that were asked, eight came from Californians. No other state even came close to matching that total. Minnesota, Michigan, South Carolina and Pennsylvania had two each. The rest were single digits and two came from unknown locations.

Everyone in the country was eligible to submit a question. A state by state breakdown of the origin of all of the 2,000+ questioners is impossible to find, since we only know user names. However, during the debate they listed the hometown of almost all. So we can't know if this was a representative sample of the questions asked. Regardless, it is great to see so many Californians get a chance to ask the candidates questions during the debate. Wouldn't it be ironic if there were more CA questions asked during this debate than the one in LA?

Below the fold are the Californian questions and the name and hometown of the questioner.

Over the weekend, MoveOn hosted one of a series of virtual townhalls, where the presidential candidates answer questions of concern to MoveOn members. This one was on the climate and timed to coincide with Live Earth.

All of the Democratic contenders participated and were asked three questions:

1. How does your plan on climate crisis differ from other candidates?
2. Do you support the use of an subsidies for liquid coal?
3. How will Americans, not just corporations, benefit from new energy economy?

The responses were video taped and put up on YouTube. Nobody really made any real news in their comments, but it is an easy way to compare the candidates in a non-traditional format. The candidates often use the initial questions to address their broader environmental and energy policies.

Here is the highlights video.

Perhaps the most interesting tidbit was that while Senators Edwards and Obama stated their support for a carbon emissions market (cap-and-trade variation), Clinton said that it would be one of several things she would consider.

[UPDATE] 5:30 pm Check out this quick and snarky overview of the top five Democrat's plans on the environment by Grist. It is well worth a read.

Gov. Richardson has made mass transit a focus of his campaign, within the context of his environmental program. It is something he discussed in the Working Californians video below. Yesterday, he was in Los Angeles talking about the benefits of light rail for big cities. SDUT:

With gas prices rising and roadways jammed, Richardson said it was time to rethink a federal transportation policy that pumps billions of dollars into new roads each year. Mass transit, he said, will be the best, cleanest way to move metropolitan residents in the future.

If elected, he said he would “make it a major effort to refocus transportation construction of roads into light rail and more energy efficient transportation,” the New Mexico governor told reporters at a news conference.

“I would make light rail at least an equal partner” with highways, he said. With more rail and clean-running buses, “it's going to improve the quality of life in this country.”

Richardson would finance this light rail expansion with state and federal bonds, calling light rail "the future" of transportation systems in big cities. He wants to see partnerships formed between city, state and local communities to fund these projects.

Gov. Richardson just released the third in a series of humorous ads with a job interview theme. This one is on his energy plan and his record in New Mexico.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown wrote a whole stack of letters, one to each of the 18 presidential contenders on Friday. He requested they weigh in publicly in favor of approving California's request for an EPA waiver to allow California to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle tailpipes. AP:

He asked them to submit written testimony to the federal EPA, which is weighing whether to grant California a waiver needed to put in place a state law that would cut greenhouse gas emissions, mostly carbon dioxide, by 25 percent from cars and 18 percent from sport utility vehicles beginning in 2009.

At least 11 other states are ready to follow California's lead if the state gets the needed federal waiver.

"As one who may be the next president of the United States, I believe that your written statement, which we will submit to EPA as part of the legal record, will help bolster our case," Brown wrote in the letter sent late Thursday. "I urge you to give us the strongest possible statement for submission to EPA."

Brown asked the candidates to weigh in by June 15, the public comment deadline.

John Edwards and Bill Richardson have submitted testimony in favor. Hopefully, a few more will join them. The issue certainly has been in the news a lot lately, with the attempts by two Democratic legislators to push forward a bill to strip California of its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. It is a fairly straight forward request and one that more candidates could fulfill.

SEIU is continuing it's series of inviting the presidential contenders to spend a day alongside one of their members from the beginning of their day at home through their workday. Edwards was the first one up, now Richardson takes his turn.

Richardson was in Las Vegas with Mark Fitzgerald, a health care social worker and single foster parent. Here is the video diary of his experience.

You can learn more at Walk a Day in My Shoes. There is also an interview two SEIU members did with Richardson on the current health care crisis.

Slow news day, given the Republican debate yesterday, so here are a few interesting links, that aren't exactly our usual topics here, but related.

• Go dig around Open Secret's new presidential money site. I especially liked the industry donations breakdown and the California donations chart. You can look at the top zip codes and metro areas.
• Univision has announced two presidential debates, one for each party. Bill Richardson was the first one to indicate his attendance. They will be held in September and it will be interesting to see who decides to participate, especially on the Republican side.
• The SacBee looks at Hillary's attempts, but not fully successful efforts to woo Sacramento.

I don't believe I have put up Obama's full address to the CDP Convention. Here you go.

Oh a couple more videos, just for fun. For a bit of a laugh go watch Joe Trippi have issues baking a pecan pie. And check out Dodd on a plane. (h/t to CMR) Pie is better than plane, I have to say.

The Courage Campaign joins in the YouTube video fun today with one from Gov. Bill Richardson. Cut to the middle for remarks on health care and the environment.

Democracy for America continues to roll out responses from the presidential candidates to talk about the environment. Here is Gov. Richardson's video on his energy plan.

Next time they might want to have him look to camera and not have him sit on a computer chair.

There has been a lot of talk about the impact of California and other states moving their primaries up earlier, but little analysis of how early voting will effect the results. California's official primary day may be February 5th, but hundreds of thousands, if not millions, will have filled out their ballots way before that date. We have 3.9 million people registered as permanent absentee voters. That's more people than even live in Iowa, let alone registered voters. This means that the impact of the media driven narratives coming out of the earliest states will be dampened in California.

Absentee voters in California can start mailing in their ballots on January 7th, before the first official primary (at least right now). Check out this chart from the WSJ.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson officially joined the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. This does not change much, other than the title of his , as his candidacy was already well known. Richardson was down in LA today for the announcement. Here is the AP:

"Some are rock stars," said Richardson, who represented New Mexico in Congress and served as President Clinton's energy secretary and ambassador to the United Nations. "I am not, but I have a proven record.

In Spanish, he said, "With pride, I hope to be the first Latino president of the United States."

Richardson made the announcement during a news conference at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in the same room where he said his hero, President Kennedy, accepted the Democratic nomination in 1960.

"I'm proud of my record of getting things done," Richardson said. "And I'll put that record up against anyone's."

Richardson is running on his biography, which includes his birthplace in Pasadena and his Latino roots, both of which he played up at today's announcement. Here is a interesting tidbit about Richardson that I did not know.

Richardson was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, thanks to some careful planning by his father. William Blaine Richardson Jr., an American banker living in Mexico City, sent his Mexican wife there to give birth to ensure there would be no questions about his child's citizenship.

Bill Richardson announced his official energy proposal in a speech to the New America Foundation today. He already had a fairly fleshed out energy plan, but this was the official rollout and he did make a few tweaks. Here are the highlights, directly from the just updated Choices for Working Californians Bill Richardson on Environment page.

Governor Richardson wants to cut oil demand by 50% by 2020 and change to 50% renewable sources for electricity by 2040. He wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80% by 2040. He also believes it is crucial to lead by example and restore America as the world's leader on the environment. Richardson contends that we can do all of this without breaking the bank.

Previously, Richardson was calling for a 75% greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 now it is 80% by 2040. This is a significant and aggressive move, something Richardson notes is "10 years faster than what scientists say is necessary". A more minor change sees his call for CAFE standards to be raised to 50mpg by 2020, instead of in "10 years".

He is already getting high remarks in the larger blogosphere for his emphasis on transportation in his speech. Unfortunately, it is nowhere in his policy statement, but it is one place where he is definitely separating himself from the competition. Any talk about reducing oil dependency and greenhouse gases should go hand in hand with a discussion on public transportation and smart growth strategies.