"Two months after taking office, President Barack Obama signed a historic wilderness bill that banned logging, mining and oil drilling across 2 million acres of scenic federal lands, including the Sierra Nevada, wildflower meadows on Oregon's Mount Hood and vast vistas of California desert."

"But today, with less than two weeks until Election Day, the environment as a campaign issue is as quiet as some of those remote landscapes.

'When you are looking at a high unemployment rate, most voters are not concerned about saving the planet,' said Barbara O'Connor, director emeritus of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at Sacramento State. 'They are much more interested in the economy and jobs -- and whether they'll have a pension or health care.'

Yet despite its relatively low profile this year, there is a Grand Canyon of difference between Obama and his challenger, Mitt Romney, on environmental issues, from public lands to climate change."

Paul Rogers reports for the San Jose Mercury News October 25, 2012. [2]