Sunday, November 2, 2008

So tell me again why Obama is expected to win in any state that has a large coal economy

Latest polls (if you believe them) show Barack Obama winning in many of the largest coal-producing states.

Of the top 15 coal-producing states, Obama leads the polls in 6 of them, for a total of 89 electoral votes:
  1. Wyoming (338,900)
  2. West Virginia (158,257)
  3. Kentucky (130,688)
  4. *Pennsylvania (74,619)
  5. Texas (49,498)
  6. Montana (38,352)
  7. *Illinois (33,444)
  8. *Virginia (32,834)
  9. North Dakota (31,270)
  10. *Colorado (29,137)
  11. Indiana (27,965)
  12. *New Mexico (27,323)
  13. Utah (26,656)
  14. *Ohio (22,269)
  15. Alabama (19,324)
Totals in thousands of short tons, as of 2000. States marked with an asterisk (*) are listed as leaning/strong Obama by RealClearPolitics.com on November 2, 2008.

If McCain won those states, he'd win the election.

But here's the reality ... or so it seems: Obama leads in 6 of the top coal-producing states.

And Obama wants to bankrupt the coal industry:
Let me sort of describe my overall policy.

What I've said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else's out there.

I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.

That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches.

The only thing I've said with respect to coal, I haven't been some coal booster. What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as a ideological matter as opposed to saying if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can.

It's just that it will bankrupt them.


Why would someone in those states want to vote themselves out of a job?

Maybe so they can get some of your wealth that Obama plans to spread around?

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