PORTLAND, Ore. — John McCain broke with the Bush administration and Republican Party orthodoxy Monday as he not only declared global warming real, but reached out to Democrats and independents with a free-market solution that includes capping carbon-fuel emissions.
The GOP presidential contender also prodded China and India — two major emitters of the greenhouse gases blamed for the planet’s warming — to join the effort, although he muted planned talk of tariffs against them in favor of “effective diplomacy” to encourage their compliance.
McCain has long expressed a belief in global warming, arguing that even if he is wrong, acting as if the planet’s temperature were increasing would only benefit the environment if scientists subsequently proved he was mistaken.
The main solution he outlined Monday is to implement a cap-and-trade program on carbon-fuel emissions, like a similar program in the Clean Air Act that was used to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions that triggered acid rain.
Industries would be given emission targets, and those coming in under their limit could sell their surplus polluting capacity to companies unable to meet their target.
McCain wants the country to return to 2005 emission levels by 2012; 1990 levels by 2020; and to a level 60 percent below that by 2050.
Obama superdelegate count could give him magic number
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama’s wave of superdelegate endorsements puts him within reach of the Democratic presidential nomination by the end of the primary season on June 3, even if he loses half of the remaining six contests.
The Illinois senator has picked up 26 superdelegates in the past week, including four Monday. At that pace, he will reach the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination — 2,025 — in the next three weeks, when delegates from the remaining primaries are included.
He leads New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in superdelegates 281 to 271.5. About 200 undecided superdelegates remain, with an additional 42 still to be selected at state party conventions and meetings throughout the spring. Superdelegates are party leaders who attend the convention as delegates by virtue of their positions, and are not selected in primaries and caucuses.
Overall, Obama has 1,871.5 delegates, including endorsements from party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton has 1,697, according to the latest tally by the Associated Press. That leaves Obama just 153.5 delegates short of the number needed to win the nomination at the party’s national convention this August in Denver.
There are 217 delegates at stake in the six remaining primaries, in West Virginia, which holds it primary today, Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.
Bob Barr announces Libertarian White House bid
WASHINGTON — Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia launched a Libertarian Party presidential bid Monday, saying voters are hungry for an alternative to the status quo who would dramatically cut the federal government.
His candidacy throws a wild card into the White House race that many believe could peel away votes from Republican Sen. John McCain given the candidates’ similar positions on fiscal policy.
Barr, 59, said he is not getting into the race to play spoiler or to make a point.
“I’ve heard from Americans from all walks of life … they want a choice,” he said at a news conference. “They believe that America has more and better to offer than what the current political situation is serving up to us.”
Barr first must win the Libertarian nomination at the party’s national convention that begins May 22.
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