A behind-the-Scenes look at the caucus process

Bumping into Biden

Moments ago, Senator Joe Biden made an appearance at the Polk County Convention Center and did a television interview in the building's lobby. He made an interesting point: to have a chance to win the nomination, in either party, a candidate has to receive media exposure. The more, the better. Biden feels that the exposure he'll get after tonight's Iowa caucus will allow him to raise money and stay in the race.

How we feel

We've spent a few days now criss-crossing the country and the state of Iowa itself. This large neon sign on the roof of a buidling near the media center sums up how we feel.

Huckabee drawing large crowds of supporters and press

We made it to Grinnell to see Mike Huckabee, who attracted a large crowd and more press than his staff anticipated. He commented that he'd feel good about a top-3 finish, noting that he's been outspent 20-1 by his Republican rivals.

Trying to pass the time

Caucus day has finally arrived!

Journalists are playing cards and watching TV, trying to pass the time before the returns start coming in later tonight. Dozens of bloggers are furiously tapping away at their laptops. Prominent talk radio hosts are filling the room with their rapid-fire, radio-voice commentary. There's a palpable sense of the importance that tonight’s event carries.

A staff member of Iowa Global Warming remarked to us that “the eyes of the world are in this room,” and it’s hard to disagree. Television crews from all the major networks have mini-studios set up and every major daily newspaper has a team on site. “even Al-Jazeera is here,” he said.

Here’s a photo from inside the media center. It’s starting to fill up, but we expect to see dozens more fill the room by night’s end.

Barack rocks the house

Next, at Des Moines Hoover High School, Barak Obama fought through a hoarse voice to give his closing argument to supporters.

Whirlwind tour begins in West Des Moines

Our first stop in what became a whirlwind tour around Iowa's capital was in West Des Moines; Republican Mitt Romney rallied supporters on the eve of the first-in-the-nation caucus. Romney appeared at ease and was warm and funny, joking with Olympian Dan Jansen, who introduced the former governor.

Polk County Convention Center...Home Sweet Home

Here is a peek inside the Polk County Convention Complex, which is playing host this week to several hundred media members, dozens of mini television studios and LCV staff members. We'll be watching the caucus returns from here tomorrow night.

Off to a great start

So far, 2008 is off to a great start. On the first day of the year, the lead editorial in one of the nation’s leading newspapers, The New YorkTimes, picked up on the League of Conservation Voters’ call to bring more attention to global warming and to press the presidential candidates on the issue...more

Greetings from Des Moines, center of the political universe

LCV -- and seemingly the entire political universe -- has descended on the Des Moines region. We're out taking photos and shooting video: check back soon to see what's going on here in Iowa.

Weather wreaking havoc on Iowa drivers

As we crossed the Mississippi River into the Hawkeye State this afternoon, we witnessed the effects of the record ice and snow storms that have wreaked havoc on Iowa this winter. High winds, drifting snow and occasional whiteouts greeted us on our path to Cedar Rapids and we counted more than 40 cars and a few tractor-trailers abandoned on the shoulder of Interstates 80 and 380.

Campaign workers for both parties are understandably concerned about the effect of cold weather on the turnout for Thursday's caucuses. Temperatures are expect to, ahem, climb to 20 degrees by Thursday, so if you're an Iowan heading to caucus, use caution and arrive safely.

On spending New Year's Eve in Hammond, Indiana

Bound for Iowa, but not going to make it tonight: we're snowed into a hotel in Northwest Indiana -- far from the thousands gathered in Times Square to ring in 2008.

The consensus of weather reports predict 12 inches here overnight; this area only gets an average of 39 inches of annual snowfall, underscoring how global warming could be the cause of increases in storm intensity and frequency.

This rockin' eve, we're watching the party in New York on TV and we're proud to report that the star of the world-famous holiday extravaganza -- the dropping ball -- was revamped this year with 9,576 energy-efficient bulbs that use about the same amount of electricity as 10 toasters.

Philips Lighting, which created the light-emitting diodes, or LED bulbs, specifically for the event, says they are smaller but more than twice as bright as last year's lights, which were a mix of more than 600 incandescent and halogen bulbs. Plus, the new lights can create more than 16 million colors for a kaleidoscope of hues against the 672 Waterford Crystal triangles.

Event planners have come a long way. The ball was first dropped for the New Year's Eve celebration in 1907. Made of iron and wood, it weighed 700 pounds and was lit with 100 25-watt incandescent bulbs.

Further west on Interstate 90, in Cleveland

Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians and Green Energy Ohio partnered on a solar electric system at Jacobs Field – the first American League ballpark to go solar. The installation provides 8.4 kilowatts of clean, renewable electricity and introduces solar energy concepts to millions in Northeast Ohio.

Commissioned back in June, the array of 42 solar panels on the south-facing upper deck concourse of Jacobs Field is just as powerful as the wind farm in Somerset, if less obvious to the casual observer.

The panels collect enough solar energy to power 135 homes each day, equal to avoiding the global warming pollution that an average passenger car emits over 306 days.

Heading west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike

Just southeast of Pittsburgh, we saw something that clearly foreshadows America's clean energy future: the Somerset Wind Energy Center. A six-turbine, 9-megawatt wind farm located in Somerset, Pennsylvania.

They're huge! The steel beams at the base stretch 215 feet into the sky and the blades themselves span 230 feet in diameter.
The six 1.5-megawatt turbines produce enough electricity to supply about 3,400 homes annually, about 25,000 megawatt-hours of power.

Somerset Wind Energy Center came online in October 2001 to meet the demand for clean, green electricity from leading corporations, universities, and individuals in the region expressing a preference for pure, fuel-free electricity.

Wind farms like these help meet the challenge of combating global climate change and are good for jobs, good for the economy, good for national security, good for the consumer and good for our planet.