It is what every incumbent fears to hear, that they have a primary opponent. Regardless of how the deck is stacked by gerrymandering, a primary opponent can end a political career. However, most primary fights are underdog struggles, usually by a candidate motivated by an issue or from a different set of values. This often inspires a candidate to more carefully represent their constituents and/or base. This is how primaries are one of the major ways that the internal priorities of a political party are decided.
Well, we now have the rise of the Climate Primary. Candidates are fighting over who has the strongest plan to solve the climate crisis and build a new, clean energy economy. Interestingly, this is happening on the highest levels – with these primary fights breaking out at the presidential and senate level.
At the presidential level, we have just gotten the release of the League of Conservation Voter’s ’08 Presidential Profiles, where the candidates highlight their differences on Global Warming, the environment, and energy policy. Read some of these developments in this article: ’08 hopefuls tout climate-change plans There has never been such a high focus on climate in primary politics before and is the result of a number of major developments. MoveOn’s Virtual Town Hall: Climate was a key and powerful use of their online community to impact the primary. Also, who could forget our own Courtney Fryxell getting John Edwards to commit to cutting carbon 80% by 2050? Go see it here!
But it is not just the presidential candidates who are fighting over the privilege of leading this country in the struggle to build a more just and sustainable world. Now Senate candidates have jumped into the fight. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, is running a primary campaign with Al Franken and Mike Ciresi, for the Senate over tackling global warming. His messaging is interesting, with his site focusing on how we are living in The Most Important Decade.
The stakes are high. NASA’s leading environmental scientist warns that “we have at most ten years” to address climate change and that following “a business-as-usual course” will result in “a far more desolate world” for “all foreseeable human generations.”
However, it is not an isolated incident. Steve Novick, another Senate primary candidate – this time from Oregon, has decided to use his support for strong global warming legislation to boost his underdog campaign. He even is hosting an online petition on his site.
“By signing on as a citizen co-sponsor, you will help me show my colleagues in Congress — and all Americans — the kind of support that exists for ground-breaking legislation that will really fight global warming. Can I count on your support?”
Seems that we some fights breaking out, the kind we will need for our candidates’ priorities to reflect the warnings of our top scientists and the call of conscience from the youth climate movement.
