House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Speaker Newt Gingrich star in the latest "Unlikely Alliance" spot from Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection. A $300 million organizing and advertising effort, the ACP's "We" campaign seeks to translate popular support for action on global warming into bipartisan political will in Washington. --By pairing liberal and conservative leaders in their ads, the group hopes to emphasize that this is an issue which must trump the traditional partisan divide in Washington.-->
In the group's previous spot, the Rev. Al Sharpton and --preacher-->televangelist Pat Robertson sat side-by-side on a couch on the beach and playfully discussed their grievances with one another, concluding that climate change was something even they could agree upon. The couch reappears in this new ad, with Pelosi and Gingrich seated in front of the Capitol. The two admit that they don't "always see eye-to-eye" but do "agree our country must take action to address climate change." "We need cleaner forms of energy and we need them fast," Pelosi urges, while Gingrich adds, "If enough of us demand action from our leaders, we can spark the innovation we need."
The two don't appear to be having as much fun as Sharpton and Robertson, maybe because, as the San Francisco Chronicle points out, they fundamentally disagree on the steps needed to address global warming: "Pelosi is backing a mandatory cap-and-trade system to reduce emissions, while Gingrich would rather use tax credits and other incentives to get industry to switch to low-carbon technologies."
Meanwhile, not everyone thinks that Gore's campaign is getting its message across effectively. Chronicle contributor Debra Saunders pointedly critiques the ads in her column today, arguing that We's generous budget could be better spent advocating for specific lifestyle changes rather than trading in generalities.