Battle under way to define cap-and-trade's role in Dems’ beating

Environmentalists and GOP strategists disagree over whether climate change was a major factor in the House Democrats' defeat. Environmentalists, GOP strategists and others are offering sharply
different views about whether votes for cap-and-trade legislation played a big role in the demise of the Democrats’ House majority.
 A slew of the 211 Democrats who voted for the sweeping 2009 House
climate bill lost their seats Tuesday, such as Reps. Rick Boucher (Va.), Zack Space (Ohio), Tom Perriello (Va.) and John Boccieri
(Ohio).
 “If you push a cap-and-trade bill that will destroy jobs and hurt the economy at a time when America is at a high unemployment rate, you are 
going to suffer consequences,” Ron Bonjean, a Republican 
strategist and former House and Senate GOP leadership aide, said Tuesday
night. But in Kentucky, a coal state like Virginia, Rep. John Yarmuth (D) won his race and Rep. Ben Chandler (D) appeared headed for victory in one of the tightest races of the election. Both voted for the bill...more