EDWARDS CAMPAIGN GOES CARBON NEUTRAL

The prosecutor-firing furor, which hit a crescendo yesterday, remains on center stage today - where it belongs.

So not much else got noticed yesterday.

One thing that went ignored was an announcment by the John Edwards campaign that it is going carbon neutral.

Edwards is the only active candidate to take his campaign in that direction, although Tom Vilsack had announced a similar plan before he dropped from the race a few weeks ago.

What exactly is the Edwards campaign doing to meet its claim of being carbon neutral?

• Using timers and motion detectors to control lights and shut down office equipment when not in use and turning off computers, televisions, and lights when not in use.


• Online monitoring and management of heating and air conditioning to conserve energy.


• Buying 100% post-consumer recycled paper and other recycled paper products.


• Recycling paper, plastic, glass, cardboard, and other products.


• Encouraging staff to adopt energy efficient practices in their office and homes. (About a quarter of John Edwards for President headquarters employees walk to work, according to a campaign press release).


• After conserving energy, the campaign will purchase carbon offsets to make it carbon neutral

Edwards' has been in the lead on a few issues lately.

He was the first to pull out of the now-canceled Nevada debate which was to have been carried by FOX News, which is notoriously unfriendly toward Democrats.

Edwards was also the first of the 2008 presidential candidates to call for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign over the DA controversey.

And, he is the only candidate talking about poverty.
Edwards was the first Democrat to formally announce his candidacy, but his numbers had been slipping in the weeks following the official entry of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton into the race, as the media focused almost exclusively on that duo.

Edwards is still firmly in third place in the polls, but after slipping to the low teens - and even single digits in some case - three recent polls show him in back in the mid-teen range. He's at 16% in the latest New Hampshire and Nevada polls, and 15% in this weeks Rasmussen Reports poll.

Edwards' gains are likely the result of the post-announcement hoopla wearing off - at least a little - for Obama and Clinton.

Whether Edwards can boost himself close to even with one or both is something to watch over the next several weeks.