Obama rallies climate conferees

Jason Reed/REUTERSBUILDUP - Construction continued yesterday on the reviewing stand from which President-elect Barack Obama and other dignitaries will view his inauguration parade Jan. 20. Capitol Hill is also gearing up for a new session. (Jason Reed/REUTERS)

President-elect Barack Obama encouraged governors and environmental activists yesterday to tackle global warming - an issue he highlighted during the campaign - and promised to support them in the White House.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California is hosting a two-day conference drawing several fellow governors plus more than 600 environmental officials and others from around the world.

Obama, who spoke to the conference by video, pledged to make America more energy independent and to also slash carbon emissions by focusing on alternative sources such as wind and solar. He also vowed to work more cooperatively with other nations on climate change.

"Few challenges facing America - and the world - are more urgent than combating climate change," he said in the video. "Climate change and our dependence on foreign oil, if left unaddressed, will continue to weaken our economy and threaten our national security."

Obama continued that "too often, Washington has failed to show the same kind of leadership. That will change when I take office. My presidency will mark a new chapter in America's leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process."

He repeated his proposals to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and cut them an additional 80 percent by 2050, and to invest $15 billion a year in clean energy.

The world's environmental ministers plan to meet in Poland in two weeks, and Obama said he has asked members of Congress attending the conference to report back to him.

FOON RHEE

Chorus heightens call for healthcare reform
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who made clear that universal healthcare is his top priority when he returned to work Monday in the Senate, announced yesterday that three working groups of the committee he heads will explore key issues.

One group, led by Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, will work on prevention and public health. Another led by Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland will work on improvements in care. And the third, led by Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, will work on insurance coverage.

"I look forward very much to working with them . . . to achieve the goal at long last of quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans," Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said in a statement.

Clinton led the failed healthcare reform effort during her husband's presidency 15 years ago. And if President-elect Barack Obama picks her as his secretary of state, Kennedy would need to find a replacement.

Meanwhile, a broad coalition for healthcare reform launched a TV ad yesterday that uses Obama's own words to step up the pressure to make healthcare one of his first orders of business. .

"The question isn't how we can afford to focus on healthcare. The question is how we can afford not to," Obama is shown saying at a rally.

FOON RHEE

Romney rides out to rally Republicans in Georgia
Mitt Romney announced yesterday that he's going to Georgia to help Republican Saxby Chambliss hang onto his Senate seat.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who sought the Republican presidential nomination this year and could well do so again in 2012, plans to appear at rallies on Friday in Atlanta and Savannah, as well as at a series of private fund-raisers.

His political action committee, Free and Strong America, gave Chambliss $5,000 to aid his runoff campaign against Democrat Jim Martin, after giving him $2,300 during the fall campaign. Because of a third-party contender, neither candidate won a majority of the vote on Nov. 4, so they are in a Dec. 2 runoff.

Democrats now control 58 seats in the Senate that will take office in January, with the races in Georgia and Minnesota still undecided. If they reach 60 votes, that potentially could thwart filibusters and make it easier for President-elect Barack Obama to push through legislation.

"This is a critical election," Romney said in a statement. "It is critical that Republicans safely retain the ability to filibuster in order to prevent the worst abuses of single-party rule."

FOON RHEE