Christopher Dodd

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.

Dodd has released a new tv ad on global warming, focusing on his corporate carbon tax plan. The ad is now on the air in New Hampshire.

Salladay reports that the DNC is set to announce shortly that California has been picked to host one of the six officially sanctioned DNC debates. CBS will broadcast the debate live from LA on December 10th. It will be a great opportunity to hear more from the candidates on the issues Californian's care about most.

There were a bounty of good articles from today and the weekend that I found and tagged. So here is a roundup post of the highlights from those stories. Teasers: Edwards' policy costs add up, Dodd talking energy, Edward's college free tuition plan, Economist on front runner's economic attitudes, and Edwards courts the union vote.

Yes, lots of Edwards, but hey that's what's in the news when it comes to Working Californian's issues.

Kerry put out a statement supporting it. Oh and Al Gore says it's "very creative".

We have been working hard to keep Choices for Working Californian's stocked with the most up to date information on the presidential contenders. Let me run down the new and updated items just this week.

Updates

• Barack Obama on Environment: Now includes his new energy plan announced yesterday. Highlights: higher CAFE standards, fuel carbon intensity reduction modeled on California's plan and incentives for fuel efficient vehicle construction.
• Joe Biden on Environment: New video of Biden addressing global warming.
• John Edwards on Environment: New video response to DfA's question on global warming.

In the News

• NYT: More Than Just Talk: Edwards and poverty.
• WaPo: Obama Makes Push for Fuel Efficiency
• AP: Obama visits Detriot to address energy policy
• TNR: Chris Dodd's Low-Carb Diet
• Obama's Speech on Energy Plan: Warning it is long, but it's a transcript as prepared for delivery.

Senator Chris Dodd answered two Working Californian's questions while at the CDP Convention. When asked about the 49% of Californian's who feel like they are falling behind Dodd launches into the importance of a strong union movement.

Someone added up the face time at last week's debate. Hillary had 12 minutes of talking, Dodd by contrast just had 5.

More fun than informative. The AP asked what one thing would the candidates would want on a desert island.

The difference between Rep. Stark's carbon tax and Sen. Dodd's proposal is laid out in the ChronBlog.

John Meyers spent some time going through the policy stances of Edwards and Obama with regards to a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is not just those two who favor that approach, Biden and Dodd do as well. Clinton has not talked about the issue, but Richardson has pushed it forward in recent weeks. This is one case where the Democratic nominees are more conservative than mainstream Democrats here in California.

In yesterday's speech by Sen. Barack Obama and today's speech by former Senator John Edwards, there was a small policy point that didn't quite register on first blush.

And that is that Obama and Edwards sound as though they basically agree with Schwarzenegger on the issue of a "cap and trade" system for carbon dioxide emissions.

On Saturday, Obama told the delegates about his stance on energy and environmental issues. And the man from Illinois promised-- if elected-- to enact the same kind of mandatory "cap and trade" program of carbon emissions favored by Schwarzenegger, but viewed with skepticism by many environmentalists, during last year's debate over AB 32.

That portion of Obama's speech, interestingly, received one of the smallest rounds of applause... in a presentation that elsewhere garnered several standing ovations.

Californians may not have one top candidate who is aligned with them on the issue to side with during the primary. It makes it more difficult to talk about environmentalism with activist crowds like they addressed this weekend. California is ahead of much of the country on attitudes towards environmental legislation. It is impressive that not one of the candidates crafted their plan after AB 32 and instead stuck with cap-and-trade.

The whirlwind weekend is now over and its time to reflect back on the overall performance of the presidential contenders. Here is my performance assessment of the candidates at the CDP Convention.

Mike Gravel was the only candidate to speak on Friday and had the smallest crowd of any candidate. It was outside and more delegates were interested in the free food and chatting than listening to him out on the patio. He was not nearly as passionate as he was on Thursday's debate. This appearance did not do much for his campaign.

Hillary Clinton did what she needed to do. She humanized herself to a crowd who had demonized her over the years. Clinton was never going to wow the delegates like Obama, but she earned the respect of the delegates. Her speech was not tailored enough to a Californian audience. She did much better addressing Californian issues like the environment in her press availability, whereas she talked about 9/11 in her speech.

Barack Obama was on fire. He lived up to his reputation as a master orator, but his speech was devoid of a lot of substance. It sounded great and was inspirational, but let delegates wondering where he stood on the issues. He was the only candidate not to take reporter's questions after his speech.

Chris Dodd gave a good substantive speech, tailored to the audience. It was unlikely that he picked up a lot of traction, but delegates received it warmly. He did very well in the blogger interview, much more engaging than his speech.

Dennis Kucinich appealed to the left most elements in the crowd, but did not give a speech likely to change his low single digit support in the state.

John Edwards has come a lot way from four years ago, where he was booed over his Iraq war position. Of all of the leading candidates, he exceeded expectations, bringing both substance and inspiration. Of all of the candidates, Edwards probably picked up the largest number of supporters at the convention.

Bill Richardson connected to the crowd better than the rest of the second tier candidates, but spoke to a severely reduced audience. He performed the opposite of Dodd, doing better in the speech then in a small group setting.

When I get the videos up I will talk more about the policy substance in their speeches, rather than performance. It was an absolute delight to have all of the candidates speaking at the convention. This is a very strong field of candidates and that was on full display.