Who Is the Greenest Presidential Candidate?

The Presidential candidates' shades of green is an issue I've been pondering lately. It's an important question to ask. How serious are these people about their green campaign statements? It can make a world of difference when you think about it. I'm convinced that Bush "won" over Gore in 2000 because he had more money in the bank, much of which had the black dust of coal and the stench of oil all over it. (see the introduction of Jeff Goodell's Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future for an explanation. NY Times Review)

No one in the fossil fuel business is going to look kindly on a candidate that takes environmental issues seriously. One need not look further than the contributions these industries make. It's there you will see which political party they see as most beneficial (read "least responsible to the environment")

Check out the numbers for yourself:

• Coal Mining
  
• Oil and Gas

Then look at the specific candidates:

• Who is coal giving to?
• And who is Oil and Gas giving to?

It's interesting to look at the poll numbers or listen to the pundits to know when and where the gloves came off in this or that debate. But the dollars are much more telling. Unfortunately this invaluable information is obscured by the TV drama that's passed off as "the democratic process at work." Lucky for us, we have this information and we're going to use it. For what? I don't know.

Happy Voting!!!!

-------------------------------
all links to the Center for Responsive Politics project:

www.opensecrets.org