This post is by Tony Kreindler, Media Director for the National Climate Campaign at Environmental Defense.
I’m down in Florida now, for the Republican debate that will take place tonight from 9-11 pm. Environmental Defense is a lead underwriter of the Republican debate. There’s no signage about this in the debate hall (no signage for anyone in the debate hall), but you can see our name in the so-called “spin room”, where political supporters and advisers speak to media after debates.
This isn’t something special we decided to do for Republicans. We also were sponsors of the Democratic debate before it was cancelled.
The Democratic candidates were invited to participate in a debate on Sunday night, January 27. Unfortunately, due to the DNC’s decision to ban campaigning in the state of Florida, they could not accept the invitation to participate. If the situation should change for any reason, NBC and their debate partners are willing to go ahead at the 11th hour.
We hope climate questions will be asked tonight, but have no guarantee.