How will we power our future? Can we create a healthy and clean economy?

Climate One at the Commonwealth Club is at the forefront of the global debate about energy, economy, and the environment.

Bringing together the brightest and most provocative leaders of our time,

Climate One is the place where big ideas get heard.

With thoughtful and insightful discussions on policy, business, science, and culture,

Climate One founder Greg Dalton gets to the heart of the matter. It's our future. It's time to come

together. Welcome to Climate One, a conversation about America's energy, economy, and environment.

To understand any of them, you have to understand them all. I'm Greg Dalton. Today we're discussing the upcoming elections.

Rising gas prices have triggered a political firestorm around a range of energy issues.

From subsidies for fossil and clean fuels to the Keystone XL pipeline,

speculative trading and tapping the strategic petroleum reserve, President Obama has vilified big oil while also calling for more domestic oil production.

Climate and cap-and-trade have become toxic words that rarely cross the lips of politicians in either party.

For the next hour, we'll discuss energy policy and politics with our live audience at

the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, and joining us, we're delighted to welcome three experts.

Donnie Fowler is a Democratic clean tech strategist. Lauren K. is president of the California

Foundation for Commerce and Education, a think tank affiliated with the California Chamber of Commerce.

And Dave Metz is a pollster with FM3, a Democratic polling shop that does a lot of

work with a Republican polling firm. Please welcome them to Climate 1.

So Dave, let's begin with you. We're in an election cycle.

How does energy rank right now in terms of the political debate and the polling that you're

seeing in there nationally, and then we'll get kind of getting into some California issues?

Well, I think it's important to think about public opinion on energy in two dimensions.

...