Obama and McCain Sweep Again

Barack Obama won Wisconsin and Hawaii, and John McCain won Wisconsin and Washington, in the latest round of primaries and caucuses Tuesday, according to published accounts.

Obama beat Hillary Clinton handily, with a 17-point margin in Wisconsin and a nearly 3-1 margin in Hawaii, according to the Wall Street Journal. The wins marked his 9th and 10th consecutive victories, giving him further momentum, but not an insurmountable lead among delegates to the nominating convention.

McCain, all but assured of victory on the Republican side, notched more victories against Mike Huckabee, who probably has no mathematical chance of capturing the nomination.

Both Obama and Clinton have aggressive energy plans that promise to tackle the problem of global warming, so the choice between them for green voters amounts to a similar choice facing all Democratic voters: what candidate and style of leadership seems most likely to accomplish his or her goals.

While McCain has long been the Republican with the best credentials on climate change (he co-authored the first cap-and-trade bill in the Senate, in 2003) he has a mixed record, at best, on other votes related to environmental issues. During the campaign, he has missed potentially pivotal votes on incentives for energy efficiency improvements and tax breaks for clean energy research and development.

Grist recently published a damning review of McCain's environmental record and rhetoric, when matched against either Democrat. It is worth a read, particularly as the Huckabee insurgency makes McCain tack ever further toward the right, which has not been fertile ground for aggressive government-led environmental regulation.

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