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In Michigan, environment is a hot political topic  view story
Monday, October 18, 2004
HUGH MCDIARMID JR. - - Detroit Free Press
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Presidential candidates learn the hard way not to mess around with Michigan's environment.
Case in point: Both President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry once suggested Great Lakes water diversion was worthy of discussion -- Bush in 2001 and Kerry in February.
Only once.
"There was a very quick public outcry condemning those statements," recalls James Clift, policy advisor to the Michigan Environmental Council. "They got caught blurting out general statements that could have been taken wrong."
Both candidates backtracked furiously and have consistently preached an "under no circumstances" diversion policy since then.
That environmental message and others are tailored to Michigan and other key Great Lakes swing states including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio. It is a small anomaly in a national political landscape where clean air and water consistently rank below war, the economy and health care among voter concerns. The environment was virtually invisible in the presidential debates.
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