Candidates Address Global Climate Change, Alternative Energy

Global climate change and alternative energy are important issues among Iowans, as well as the American people in general, so it was expected that a question would address the topic.

However, Carolyn Washburn met criticism when she asked the question. Instead of going down the line or addressing specific candidates, she asked the presidential hopefuls to raise their hands if they thought global warming was a real issue.

"I'm not doing hand shows," Fred Thompson said. When he refused to give a yes or no answer to the question in lieu of raising his hand, he asked for a minute to fully respond to the question. Washburn denied his request and moved on to other candidates, even though they did not want to raise their hands either.

For the most part, all the candidates agreed with John McCain when he said America must work toward having a green climate or else later generations will have a deteriorate, unhealthy planet.

Duncan Hunter said the U.S. must fund innovative energy research to do so.

Mitt Romney said America must get rid of its dependency on foreign oil from "those who use it against us." Not only will this help the enviroment, but also the economy and national security.

He added that it is called global warming for a reason, and not American warming.

"This is something we should address as a planet," Romney said. "But energy independence is something we can do unilaterally."