Muckraker: Grist on Politics

The League of Conservation Voters announced today that they’re endorsing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, citing the freshman senator’s policies on climate change and clean energy.

“When you look specifically at the twin challenges of cutting global warming pollution and moving toward a clean energy future, on those issues Barack Obama has the most comprehensive plan we have ever seen for a presidential nominee,” LCV president Gene Karpinski told the Associated Press.

LCV gave Obama a rating of 67 percent in their annual scorecard this year, lower than his usual average due to missed votes while on the campaign trail. He maintains an 86 percent rating overall for his first three years representing Illinois in the Senate.

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The group endorsed McCain in his 2004 Senate campaign, though his lifetime score from the group is 24 percent. He scored a zero for 2007, after missing every vote that they included in this year’s tally.

LCV is holding five separate endorsement events today, in Washington, D.C.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Denver, Colo.; Santa Fe, N.M.; and Bloomfield Hills, Mich. They join Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth, who have also endorsed Obama.