Democrats urged to play down 'global warming'

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By Edward Felker and Stephen Dinan, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

House Democrats neared a deal Thursday on a bill to combat global warming, but a top party strategist warned that to sell any plan to voters they'll need to change the way they pitch it -- including curbing the use of the term "green" jobs and even talk of "global warming."

In a strategy memo, Democratic think tank Third Way and top party strategist Stanley Greenberg warned Democrats that swing voters don't care about fighting global warming, and said terms like "cap-and-trade" are useless. Instead, the memo suggests that Democrats tap into Americans' optimism that clean energy can help improve the faltering economy.

"For most voters, global warming is not significant enough on its own to drive support for major energy reform," the memo says. "So while it can be part of the story that reform advocates are telling, global warming should be used only in addition to the broader economic frame, not in place of it."

The economic impact of a global warming bill was front and center Thursday as Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson, Minnesota Democrat, tried to reach agreement with House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat, and Rep. Edward J. Markey, Massachusetts Democrat.

A deal could clear the path for the Democrats' bill to reach the House floor. Mr. Peterson and other Democrats on the Agriculture Committee have objected to the bill's treatment of farmers and rural cooperative electricity utilities.

"We have an idea for a conceptual understanding that we are now looking at in more detail, and I think that we're almost there," Mr. Waxman told reporters, though he wouldn't provide any details.

Mr. Peterson pitched the plan to about 10 fellow Democrats on the Agriculture Committee on Thursday afternoon, but declined to speak to reporters afterward.

With President Obama's encouragement, Democrats in Congress are trying to pass a bill that would limit carbon-dioxide emissions, issue emissions allowances and set up a program for the allowances to be traded among polluters -- a program called cap-and-trade.

But the strategists, in their memo, said the term "cap-and-trade" is "worse than meaningless" and is unfavorable to voters. Instead, Third Way and Mr. Greenberg's firm argue for terms like "clean energy" and for branding the push against global warming under a new slogan of "Get America running on clean energy."

Third Way spokesman Sean Gibbons said the research shows that clean energy can bridge the gap between hard-core Democrats who want to combat global warming and swing voters who are more worried about the economy.