Cap and Trade Not Ballot-Box Poison

Heartland Consumer Power District's Mike McDowell wags his finger at Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and any other Congressmen thinking of taking advantage of the lame-duck session to "enact policies rejected by the voters on November 3rd [sic]." McDowell's warning carries the hint that he includes cap and trade in that batch of "rejected" policies.

Mr. McDowell's queasiness about cap and trade, that really effective policy that was part of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, was not rejected by the electorate last week. The bill never made it to a vote in our laggardly Senate, but in the House, 80% of the Democrats who voted for ACESA won re-election. 27 out of 43 Democrats—63%—who voted no on ACESA lost last week. Only one of eight House Republicans who voted with Nancy Pelosi for cap and trade was beaten at the ballot box, and that was Delaware's Mike Castle, who lost the Senate primary to Christine O'Donnell... which worked out nicely for Democrats and other reasonable people.

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin was one of those Democratic nays. So was Dennis Kucinich. But Herseth Sandlin the Blue Dog lost, while Kucinich the fire-breathing liberal won. Go figure... and keep that in mind, candidates-in-waiting, as you think about whether you want to run in 2012 as an "Independent (democrat)" or a just plain "Democrat."

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By the way, conservatives, instead of gambling on your extreme best-case scenario that the scientific consensus is wrong, climate change isn't happening, and oil will last forever, why not be real conservatives and join the Dems in this lame-duck session to pass serious climate change and energy security legislation?