Granite State Update

Clinton and McCain win New Hampshire primaries, attract green voters

Posted at 10:42 AM on 09 Jan 2008

Unseasonably warm weather brought out a record number of voters in New Hampshire's primary on Tuesday -- and is it mere coincidence that the majority of them voted for candidates with real plans to tackle climate change? Well, OK, probably yes. Hillary Clinton was the victor on the Democratic side; she's got a strong platform on climate and clean energy (though her main Democratic opponents, Barack Obama and John Edwards, do too). In the GOP primary, John McCain was the winner; he's the only Republican candidate who's actually spelled out a strategy for coping with climate change, and he cosponsored a landmark bill in the Senate to address the problem (though he hasn't signed on to stronger bills that have emerged since). McCain made a deliberate appeal to New Hampshire voters who care about the environment: "I will clean up the planet," he told a crowd on Monday, deviating from his usual campaign spiel. "I will make global warming a priority." Find eco-focused candidate interviews and oodles more info about candidates' green platforms in our special election series: "How Green Is Your Candidate?"

sources:  The Washington Post, The Boston Globe