Tale from the Trail: Global Warming Conference

Another Tale from the Trail from Primary Source assistant Brian Lawson. His blog is here.

On a beautiful fall afternoon, about 400 people gathered to hear speeches from John McCain, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Huckabee. Over two days, the participants of the "Global Warming & Energy Solutions" conference heard energy policies from four presidential candidates.

John McCain began his speech by admitting "in 2000, I did not know much about global warming," but questions from New Hampshire town hall meetings forced him to closely examine the issue.

Quoting Chief Seattle, Dennis Kucinich told the crowd "The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth."

The Ohio Congressman added that there is "relationship between human health and the type of economy we have," and the United States should "move from limited thinking to unlimited thinking."

Mike Huckabee took a more religious approach and said, "as a person of faith I understand that this earth does not belong to me."

In perhaps the funniest moment of the afternoon, Huckabee's cell phone went off and he told the caller "no the Mayor is not here." Huckabee was referring to when Rudy Giuliani's cell phone went off during a speech before the NRA.

Though he was not present, Al Gore did have a presence at the conference. A group of "Draft Gore" supporters were sporting large buttons and outside the conference there was a sign that said "Gore 08."

Even though most of the audience was there to discuss energy policy, Joe Sherrier decided to attend Saturday's speeches to give his daughter a first hand look at the presidential race.

Sherrier and his daughter, Marra, drove from Virginia to New Hampshire because he wanted to introduce his daughter to the issues and the decision making process.