At Dem debate, candidates agree on green jobs, fight over everything else

At the acrimonious Democratic presidential debate on Monday night, the three leading candidates bickered over a whole range of issues, but they all agreed on one thing: the need to invest in creating green-collar jobs. The CNN moderators didn’t ask any questions about the environment, but Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama all brought up the importance of building a clean-energy economy when they were asked about the country’s economic health. “I want to put money into clean-energy jobs, green-collar jobs,” said Clinton, borrowing talking points from environmental-justice leader Van Jones (we’re betting he didn’t mind). “We could put hundreds and hundreds of young people to work right now, putting solar panels in, insulating homes,” she continued. Edwards and Obama echoed those points. No word on how that message resonated with Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, a coal industry lobbying group that sponsored the Monday matchup as well as previous debates.