Election '06: A Huge Victory for Green Causes

Fist-pumping, chest-thumping, and hallelujahs abounded yesterday at a press conference of top environmental strategists responding to the results of the Tuesday elections, which ushered in a Democratic Congress after 12 years of near-total GOP control.

Jon Tester, one of the greener senators-to-be. Jon Tester, one of the greener senators-to-be. "Let me be clear: The environment won last night!" Sierra Club Political Director Cathy Duvall exclaimed. "Voters elected a greener U.S. House, a greener U.S. Senate, greener U.S. governors, and they gave a green light to a new energy future."

Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, said, "This is the first election I can remember in U.S. history that has put such a specific focus on a top-priority environmental issue, which this year has been a clean-energy future."

There's no question that the environment played a central role in some high-profile victories. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- one of the few Republicans with anything to smile about on Tuesday -- got a boost from signing into law the nation's first mandatory caps on greenhouse-gas emissions -- and then coasted to victory over Democratic challenger Phil Angelides. "There's certainly a case to be made that he owes his win to climate change," said John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace USA.

Another Californian with decidedly less star power, Jerry McNerney (D), also has the environment to thank for his stunning victory over House Resources Committee Chair Richard Pombo (R), who for 14 years represented the Golden State's 11th Congressional District and rose to become one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress. A no-name wind-energy engineer, McNerney made clean energy his signature issue and painted himself a zealous eco-warrior against the backdrop of Pombo's relentless efforts to drill in sensitive natural areas, butcher the Endangered Species Act, and open millions of acres of public lands to development. McNerney was helped mightily along the way by environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife, which together poured more than $1.2 million into the race.

The new Democratic senator-elect from Montana, Jon Tester, beat out environmental foe Conrad Burns (R) with a similarly enthusiastic environmental platform. An organic-farmer-turned-state-senator, Tester centered much of his TV advertising on his plans to make Montana a stronghold of the new energy economy. As president of the Montana state Senate, he pushed through a 2005 law requiring utilities in his state to derive 15 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2015.

This same message also cropped up during the campaign of Missouri's new Democratic senator-elect, Claire McCaskill, who ousted Republican Jim Talent, an avid proponent of oil extraction in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. And it was a theme in the gubernatorial races of Bill Ritter (D) in Colorado, who beat out his drilling-happy Republican opponent Bob Beauprez, and Ted Strickland (D) in Ohio, who walloped Republican Ken Blackwell with a campaign that included a promise to spend roughly $250 million on next-gen alternative-energy projects.

Of the nine candidates LCV named to its list of "Environmental Champions", eight were reelected. And of the 13 active candidates on LCV's "Dirty Dozen" list (someone's got a bit of a counting problem), "we beat nine of them," said LCV's Karpinski.

Said Sierra Club's Duvall, "The striking thing isn't just that the energy/environment issue played a decisive role in these races, it's that it was used to bring an optimistic, inspirational message to an election year marked by lots of negative campaigning."

Doubt, Doubt, Let It All Out

But some political analysts believe environmentalists are going overboard with their optimistic claims of political relevance. "I really don't think that energy or the environment played a defining role in this election," Amy Walter, a senior editor with the Cook Political Report, said. "It was ultimately a referendum on the president, the president's party, and the president's war. It was a vote against the status quo rather than a vote for certain future goals. Does it mean that Democrats gave us a convincing blueprint for what they want to do with energy? No. Does it mean voters were saying we see a bright future in clean energy? No."