Al Gore Asks MoveOn.org To Help Udall Despite Congressman's Reversal On Offshore Drilling

September 18, 2008 4:03 p.m. EST

Denver, CO (AHN) - Former Vice President Al Gore has sent an email to MoveOn.org members asking for their help raising funds for Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) and two other Democrats seeking their first term in the Senate.

Calling Udall one of his "three champions of clean energy," Gore wrote, "At the convention, I said that the oil industry has a 50-year lease on the Republican Party. And they're drilling it for everything it's worth... We're in an energy crisis, and the burgeoning solar and wind power business is on the edge of shutting down-because Republicans are blocking the tax incentives they count on. Yet they'll fight to the death for huge oil industry subsidies."

"This election offers us our best chance ever to elect leaders who will switch our economy to home-grown, renewable, zero-carbon energy-and restore our economic health, our national security, and stabilize our climate," the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner for added.

Udall is a prominent environmentalist who had to fight off criticisms last month after he reversed his stance on expanding coastal oil exploration. He now supports a bipartisan energy measure that allows offshore drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf and provides funds to develop clean energy technologies. His new stance came amid growing public support for offshore drilling, and Democratic concessions to break an impasse in Congress over an energy bill.

In his fundraising email, Gore, the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee, said Udall "has one of the highest lifetime scores in Congress from the League of Conservation Voters. His opponent is a former congressman turned oil executive who makes oil deals in Iraq."

Udall is in the race for the seat of retiring Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) against Republican candidate Bob Schaffer, a former U.S. congressman who has has been criticized for his support for a widely panned energy plan backed by President George W. Bush, and has been linked to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Gore's two other clean energy champions were Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) candidate Al Franken, who is running for the Senate seat of Minnesota, and North Carolina state Sen. Kay Hagan, the Democratic nominee for the seat of Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC).