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US candidates resist diluting climate plans

Voters in Indiana last week asked Barack Obama what his highest priorities would be in his "first 1,000 days in office". Ahead of universal healthcare and ending the Iraq war, the first item on Mr Obama's list was comprehensive energy reform. Observers of the increasingly commuter-focused presidential debate in the US could be forgiven for thinking that the pain of high petrol prices has driven the issue of global warming off the political agenda.