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California’s Proposition 87, which would impose some $4 billion worth of taxes on oil companies and use the proceeds to fund alternative energy development, got a much-needed publicity boost today when every Democrat’s favorite (living) ex-president, Bill Clinton, exhorted voters to support it at a Los Angeles rally. That’s a nice addition to the support his former veep, Al Gore, has already thrown behind the measure. The petroleum industry is lobbing tens of millions of dollars at the initiative in an effort to sink it – with disheartening success. Support for it has dropped from 52 per cent to 44 per cent among Golden State voters in recent weeks.
