Beyond the Dome

One aspect of John McCain’s energy plan that hasn’t gotten too much attention from the Democrats is his proposal to offer a $300 million prize for the development of an affordable car battery that can enable hybrid and electric cars to drive long distances.

Today, though, Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan made it clear her party doesn’t take the idea seriously at all.

“That’s a gameshow,” Stabenow said during a briefing at the Colorado Convention Center. If anyone actually developed a car battery that could meet those challenges, she said, “they’d be billionaires. They will not need a prize at the end of this.”

McCain’s people, of course, say it’s not that simple. Whoever develops the car battery would still have to spend money to market and distribute it, so a prize would be a needed incentive because it would be “an immediate return on that investment,” said McCain spokesman Taylor Griffin. Moreover, he said, it’s a necessary part of the equation to make the new batteries available at a price most consumers could afford.

It’s not surprising, of course, that the Democrats would dismiss McCain’s ideas so easily (and vice versa) in the heat of a campaign. But it’s also yet another reminder that if McCain wins, and wants to get his agenda through what will probably remain a Democratic Congress, he’ll have a lot of selling to do — even down to the level of such lower-tier proposals as the battery prize.