John McCain is a long-serving United States Senator representing the state of Arizona. McCain was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 1982 and served two terms. He was then elected to the US Senate in 1986. He and his second wife, Cindy, live in Phoenix. He has seven children and four grandchildren.

McCain is a man of great contradictions. On one hand, he gained great national admiration as a heroic prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict. McCain spent 5 ½ years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. On the other hand, he was one of the "Keating Five" – the five US Senators who were accused of impropriety for attempting to influence federal regulators in favor of Lincoln Savings and Loan in the 1980s.

McCain is no stranger to New Hampshire. He has made more trips to NH than any other Republican candidate, except the former Governor from next door (Massachusetts), Mitt Romney. In the 2000 NH Presidential Primary, McCain stunned then-Texas Governor, George W. Bush, 49-30%, and he made many long-lasting friendships that he has rekindled today.

In March of this year, McCain visited WMUR-TV and participated in the Conversations with a Candidate program. During the program, I asked him about his energy plans for America. McCain said, "Global Warming is a huge problem and we must do something about it now. We need to become more energy self-sufficient and that means more fuel-efficient cars and conserving electricity." — Those are words that any thinking American could support!

When he was pressed further by me as to how he would accomplish making America more energy self-sufficient, McCain stated, "It may also mean we have to drill for more domestic oil, look at nuclear power, as well as exploring all types of renewable options such as wind, solar, biomass and ethanol." — He ended that sentence well, but the drilling and nuclear power, while expected, were still troubling.

McCain’s presidential campaign website states: "John McCain has a proud record of common sense stewardship. Along with his commitment to clean air and water, and to conserving open space, he has been a leader on the issue of global warming with the courage to call the nation to action on an issue we can no longer afford to ignore."

A video on McCain’s website compares McCain to the "great environmentalists presidents" — Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Okay, TR I can understand. They guy was a hunter, an avid outdoorsman, and he set aside more land for the National Parks system than all his predecessors combined. But Ronald Reagan? This was the man who had James Watt as his Secretary of the Interior, and during his 1980 campaign, Reagan blamed trees for emitting 93 percent of the nation’s nitrogen oxide pollution — giving rise to jokes about "killer trees." Reagan was not an environmentalist! It appears that McCain is trying to coddle the "Reagan Republican" base.

McCain also stated that there may come a "tipping point" on our environment, when we cannot reverse the effects of global warming, but we "aren’t there yet." He also stated that we should not participate in the Kyoto Treaty, "unless China and India also join." Senator McCain also believes:

• "I am very confident that Republican voters care about climate change. I am the greenest Republican in the presidential race."
• "Ignoring the problem of global warming reflects a liberal, live for today attitude unworthy of our great country." – I didn’t realize that liberals love global warming!

McCain’s other environmental and energy stands are:

• He supports a cap-and-trade system for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
• He opposes a carbon tax.
• He was a strong critic of ethanol and the public subsidies that it receives. Now he supports ethanol – but still opposes subsidies. He now jokes on the campaign stump, "I always have a glass of ethanol before breakfast every morning."
• He is a strong proponent of nuclear power as a way to generate electricity without producing greenhouse-gas emissions. His 2007 Climate Proposal would take some of the money raised under his proposed cap-and-trade auctions and make it available for loans for new nuclear power plants. At the NH Republican debate in June, McCain said, "Nuclear power is safe, nuclear power is green. It does not emit greenhouse gases."
• He supports public-private partnerships to develop high-tech systems for coal gasification and carbon sequestration.
• He has opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
• He has been highly critical of the Bush administration’s lack of action against global warming.
• He voted against a renewable portfolio standard that would have required the U.S. to get 10 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

I will leave you with a quote from musician Chuck Berry, from his song "Johnny B Goode:

Way back up on the woods among the evergreens,
There stood an old cabin made of earth and wood,
Where lived a country boy named Johnny B Goode.

Go Go Johnny!

Next week: Democratic Senator John Edwards

SmartPower

John McCain for President Exploratory Campaign Website

Photo Credit: McCain at the June 2007 NH Republican Candidate Debate: Time Magazine

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Mike Garofalo’s previous "Power to the People" columns