Will they talk about the environment?

Tonight is the second of three debates between Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. After hearing precious little in the first debate, which was in fact supposed to be on the subject of foreign policy, and getting only a token nod in the VP debate, I'm curious to see if there will be any talk about environmental issues tonight.

You might ask, quite fairly, why the candidates should discussion the environment. The economy is without a doubt the most pressing issue on everyone's mind, and rightly so. I expect (hope?) that there will be some detailed discussion about economic issues, and if we're lucky, perhaps we'll even hear how each candidate might try to solve these problems. I also expect a healthy dose of foreign policy discussion, and as always a devolution into party talking points about health care and taxes and lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

Where does the environment fit into all this? Without a doubt it will surface as a secondary issue in a couple of places. Obama will probably talk about creating new jobs in alternative energy sectors. McCain might relate his support for off-shore drilling to reinforce his stance that America needs to break her reliance on foreign oil. If there are direct questions about climate change, look for similar answers to the ones we got from Sarah P. and Joe B.: "We need to drill right now," and "Let's invest in clean energies."

Keep in mind that this is a town-hall style debate. Basically, that means that 80 or so uncommitted voters (let me just say, I am honestly wondering who is still uncommitted, and I can't imagine that these people are the best choices to be asking questions of such importance, because an uncommitted voter at this point either hasn't been paying attention or lacks the ability to understand the issues... anyway... ) will be packed into a room to directly ask questions of the candidates. If we are lucky, we'll get one token question on climate change in a debate that is sure to be dominated by a discussion of "Wall Street and Main Street."

If it does indeed unfold this way, it will be a shame, because the environment really is an essential component of the challenges we are facing. Talk a look at Thomas Friedman's article from last week on greening the bailout package. Friedman's ideas, which echo what I've been writing about here (or maybe that's the other way around!) are about rebuilding our economy by sparking an energy technology revolution. By focusing on a new industry, an essential industry for the next century, America might be able to turn this thing around. We could create jobs in this country, and train our workers to do these jobs. That's how you rebuild the economy -- by relying on an industry where a real, actual product is created.

"You can’t base a national economy on credit cards. But you can base it on solar panels, wind turbines, smart biofuels and a massive program to weatherize every building and home in America."

I fear, though, that the discussion will not get this deep. We will hear about the economy in terms of mud-slinging, finger-pointing, blame-assigning, and the Dow will continue to tumble head over heels. Any chance I'm wrong about this? We'll find out soon enough.