By NEIL H. SIMON, Media General News Service
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WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden failed to mention coal as an energy source at a stop in coal-producing Virginia Tuesday, as the presidential campaigns sparred over his recent comments disparaging coal-fired power plants.
Biden did tout solar energy at the invitation-only discussion on the economy with about 250 supporters here, his third campaign stop in Virginia in five days. The Obama campaign tried to clarify the Democrats’ position on energy from coal.
"We don't support clean coal," Biden said at a campaign event in Maumee, Ohio, last Wednesday. The exchange was caught on video and is on YouTube. (Watch clip at bottom.)
The statement came in response to the woman in a crowd asking him why, with wind and solar flourishing in Ohio, he still supports clean coal. Biden looked the women in the eye and put his hands on her shoulders.
"No coal plants here in America," he said. "Build them over there (in China) if they're going to build them. Make them clean."
The McCain campaign seized on the comments as a campaign flip-flop and announced the formation of a Coalition to Protect Coal Jobs to "spread the message about the importance of clean-coal technology."
The coal industry is a key provider of jobs in Southwest Virginia. Biden, campaigning in Castlewood, Va., Saturday at a United Mine Workers fish fry, talked up his own roots in coal-rich Pennsylvania.
"I have heard this before," said Republican Del. Terry Kilgore of Bristol. "A lot of folks come down to Southwest Virginia and talk a different game."
Republicans warned an anti-coal Obama-Biden administration would cause electricity bills to rise in Virginia and other states where electricity relies heavily on coal-fired power plants.
"If you say `no more coal plants,’ well, that means higher electricity bills," said former Gov. George Allen, a supporter of John McCain.
The Obama campaign responded with a statement that McCain’s charges on coal are "yet another false attack from a dishonorable campaign."
"Senator McCain knows that Senator Obama and Senator Biden support clean coal technology," said Obama-Biden campaign spokesman David Wade. He pointed to Obama’s plan to invest $150 billion over 10 years in clean-energy technologies, including incentives to develop clean coal facilities.
Biden, at one point in his 20-minute speech in Woodbridge, said an Obama-Biden administration would invest in alternative energy technology.
"We're going to invest in solar. We're going to invest in retooling the automobile industry," he said, before moving on to health care and education.
With the news media focused on the economy and whether Congress will approve a $700 bailout package, Biden may be spared the glare of cable news on his coal remarks, according to Paul Freedman, a political scientist at the University of Virginia.
"If you're going to be caught in a flip-flop or a gaffe of some sort, do it the week that the financial infrastructure of the United States is melting down," Freedman said.
Still, he said, the Biden remark will force the Obama campaign to do some "fence-mending" in coal country.
"It just means they have to work a bit harder to secure a part of the state that was going to be an uphill struggle anyway," Freedman said.
The Obama campaign dispatched Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., to defend the Democrats' coal position in a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon.
Boucher said Biden had already clarified his stance on coal three days after the Ohio event when he campaigned with mine workers in Bristol.
"He was quite explicit about his support for coal," Boucher said.
Boucher dismissed Biden's misstatement in Ohio as "an off-the-cuff conversation."
The Obama campaign was eager to focus attention elsewhere and attacked McCain for opposing bills that would invest millions of dollars in coal-to-liquid technology.
"Between the two candidates, he (Obama) really is the true friend of coal," Boucher said.
(Contact Neil H. Simon at nsimon@mediageneral.com or (202) 662-7669.)
Biden did tout solar energy at the invitation-only discussion on the economy with about 250 supporters here, his third campaign stop in Virginia in five days. The Obama campaign tried to clarify the Democrats’ position on energy from coal.
"We don't support clean coal," Biden said at a campaign event in Maumee, Ohio, last Wednesday. The exchange was caught on video and is on YouTube. (Watch clip at bottom.)
The statement came in response to the woman in a crowd asking him why, with wind and solar flourishing in Ohio, he still supports clean coal. Biden looked the women in the eye and put his hands on her shoulders.
"No coal plants here in America," he said. "Build them over there (in China) if they're going to build them. Make them clean."
The McCain campaign seized on the comments as a campaign flip-flop and announced the formation of a Coalition to Protect Coal Jobs to "spread the message about the importance of clean-coal technology."
The coal industry is a key provider of jobs in Southwest Virginia. Biden, campaigning in Castlewood, Va., Saturday at a United Mine Workers fish fry, talked up his own roots in coal-rich Pennsylvania.
"I have heard this before," said Republican Del. Terry Kilgore of Bristol. "A lot of folks come down to Southwest Virginia and talk a different game."
Republicans warned an anti-coal Obama-Biden administration would cause electricity bills to rise in Virginia and other states where electricity relies heavily on coal-fired power plants.
"If you say `no more coal plants,’ well, that means higher electricity bills," said former Gov. George Allen, a supporter of John McCain.
The Obama campaign responded with a statement that McCain’s charges on coal are "yet another false attack from a dishonorable campaign."
"Senator McCain knows that Senator Obama and Senator Biden support clean coal technology," said Obama-Biden campaign spokesman David Wade. He pointed to Obama’s plan to invest $150 billion over 10 years in clean-energy technologies, including incentives to develop clean coal facilities.
Biden, at one point in his 20-minute speech in Woodbridge, said an Obama-Biden administration would invest in alternative energy technology.
"We're going to invest in solar. We're going to invest in retooling the automobile industry," he said, before moving on to health care and education.
With the news media focused on the economy and whether Congress will approve a $700 bailout package, Biden may be spared the glare of cable news on his coal remarks, according to Paul Freedman, a political scientist at the University of Virginia.
"If you're going to be caught in a flip-flop or a gaffe of some sort, do it the week that the financial infrastructure of the United States is melting down," Freedman said.
Still, he said, the Biden remark will force the Obama campaign to do some "fence-mending" in coal country.
"It just means they have to work a bit harder to secure a part of the state that was going to be an uphill struggle anyway," Freedman said.
The Obama campaign dispatched Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., to defend the Democrats' coal position in a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon.
Boucher said Biden had already clarified his stance on coal three days after the Ohio event when he campaigned with mine workers in Bristol.
"He was quite explicit about his support for coal," Boucher said.
Boucher dismissed Biden's misstatement in Ohio as "an off-the-cuff conversation."
The Obama campaign was eager to focus attention elsewhere and attacked McCain for opposing bills that would invest millions of dollars in coal-to-liquid technology.
"Between the two candidates, he (Obama) really is the true friend of coal," Boucher said.
(Contact Neil H. Simon at nsimon@mediageneral.com or (202) 662-7669.)