"President Obama: Climate Change Will Be a Campaign Issue"

"President Barack Obama says the amount of money poured into fighting the scientific consensus on climate change will push the issue into the presidential campaign."

"In an interview with Rolling Stone published Wednesday, Obama also says he's worried about the lack of international progress to address global warming and believes that is tied to frustration with the Keystone XL pipeline.

'Part of the challenge over these past three years has been that people's number-one priority is finding a job and paying the mortgage and dealing with high gas prices,' Obama said. 'In that environment, it's been easy for the other side to pour millions of dollars into a campaign to debunk climate-change science.

'I suspect that over the next six months, this is going to be a debate that will become part of the campaign, and I will be very clear in voicing my belief that we're going to have to take further steps to deal with climate change in a serious way,' he added.

Obama didn't mention Mitt Romney by name, but sought to contrast the GOP of today with 2008 standard-bearer John McCain, who for years sponsored cap-and-trade legislation with Sen. Joe Lieberman."

Dan Berman reports for Politico April 25, 2012.

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"Ready for the Fight: Rolling Stone Interview with Barack Obama" (Rolling Stone)