Mike Huckabee is a former three-term Governor of Arkansas who ended his last term as Governor in January of 2007. Governor Huckabee is also the author of several books including From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 Stops to Restoring America’s Greatness. Most recently he has established himself as the front runner for the Republican nomination for President by winning the 2008 Iowa Caucus.

The Position

Governor Huckabee makes the following statements on the Energy Independence issue page on his official website.

“The first thing I will do as President is send Congress my comprehensive plan for energy independence.”

“We have to explore, we have to conserve, and we have to pursue all avenues of alternative energy: nuclear, wind, solar, hydrogen, clean coal, biodiesel, and biomass.”

“We will set aside a federal research and development budget that will be matched by the private sector to seek the best new products in alternative fuels.”

“Our free market will sort out what makes the most sense economically and will reward consumer preferences.”

Our Take

Governor Huckabee makes strong statements on the subject of energy independence. Like the other Republican candidates Mr. Huckabee does not provide a detailed plan. He takes care to mention all possible alternatives, which certainly makes sense since we can’t expect that the future of clean energy will rely on one or two technologies.

At this point in the game I don’t think that any President can afford not to have a strong clean energy policy. The question we have to ask is this one. What route will each candidate take to help the U.S. get to our clean energy future. It is encouraging that Mr. Huckabee plans to share resources with the private sector allow the “free market” to sort out the technologies and fuel sources that makes the most sense. A rigid mindset that relies on the government, funded solely by tax payer dollars and punitive corporate levies, will lead to inefficient federal programs and slow clean energy innovation.

Ron Paul is a veteran Congressman and doctor from Lake Jackson, TX. Congressman Paul served in the U.S. House of Representatives in the late 1970s until he relinquished his House seat in 1984. He returned to Congress in 1997 and currently serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The Position

The Environment issue page on Congressman Paul’s website states that Ron Paul is, “a co-sponsor of legislation designed to encourage the development of alternative and sustainable energy. H.R. 550 extends the investment tax credit to solar energy property and qualified fuel cell property, and H.R. 1772 provides tax credits for the installation of wind energy property.

Other statements focus specifically on environmental issues. There is no detailed clean energy plan on the site. In general Congressman Paul’s stance favors free markets and states that, “Currently, preemptive regulations and pay-to-pollute schemes favor those wealthy enough to perform the regulatory tap dance, while those who own the polluted land rarely receive a quick or just resolution to their problems.”

Our Take

Congressman Paul puts forward some interesting and attractive concepts. He is a strong advocate for free markets and obviously believes that the federal government is ill equipped to properly manage the many systems or agencies that are in charge of energy production and emissions in the United States.

This approach in general is preferable over schemes that soak companies via high taxes in order to fund big government programs. Ron Paul does suffer the same problem as other Republican candidates with his website proposing a number of interesting ideas without a detailed strategy for our clean energy future.

Mitt Romney is one of the leading candidates for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination. He is well known as successful business person and as the former Governor of the State of Massachusetts.

The Position

Governor Romney is in favor of using technology to develop clean sources of energy. In a video posted on the Mitt Romney For President website, he states “I believe we have to be developing more energy sources ourselves which would include offshore drilling, drilling in ANWAR, nuclear power, biodiesel, biofuel, ethanol, cellulostic ethanol. Probably liquified coal. We have enormous supplies of coal.”

The official campaign website dedicates a page to the energy issue but there is only a quote and an embedded video.

Our Take

Governor Romney’s position is very light on substance. He mentions the need for improved technologies, fuel efficiency and financial incentives for clean energy production but fails to provide details.

Interestingly enough there is no mention of wind in either Romney’s video or his quote on the web page. He may be avoiding the wind issue since it is well known that he opposed the Cape Wind project during his tenure as Governor of Massachusetts.

John McCain is a Republican Senator from Arizona. Senator McCain has served in the U.S. Senate since 1986. Prior to his career in politics Senator McCain served in the U.S. Navy as an aviator. During that service his plane was shot down over Vietnam. McCain was captured and spent five and a half years in captivity as a prisoner of war.

The Position

The McCain strategy aims to, “…limit carbon emissions by harnessing market forces that will bring advanced technologies, such as nuclear energy, to the market faster, reduce our dependence on foreign supplies of energy, and see to it that America leads in a way that ensures all nations do their rightful share.”

Our Take

Where’s the beef Senator? There’s not much on Senator McCain’s website with respect to a clean energy plan. In addition, Senator McCain’s position is listed on his campaign website under the title, “Environment”. While energy and the environment are strongly related, a specific energy policy is crucial for any Presidential candidate. It would be nice to see a stronger clean energy plan from Senator McCain sooner rather than later.

Rudy Giuliani is a former Federal Prosecutor and two-term Mayor of New York City. He is widely considered to be the Republican front runner for the 2008 Presidential Election.

The Position

Rudy pledges, among other things, “…more aggressive investment in alternative energy sources.” He also advocates, “…a national strategy that emphasizes diversification, innovation, and conservation.”

Taking a deeper look at the points of his position I see bullet points that include mentions of wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal sources of energy. There’s a mention of utilizing carbon sequestration technology. Speaking of future technologies the campaign website states, “America must encourage entrepreneurs in future technologies such as advanced hybrid cars and hydrogen fuel cells.”

Our Take

Where’s the beef Rudy? The bullet points mention all the right things but we need more than a one page plan to tackle these issues. I noticed that the press release for these bullet points is nearly four months old. I would expect that Rudy and the rest of the front-running candidates will continue to develop their positions as the campaign moves forward.