Portland's fervent bicycling community has discovered that Democrat Barack Obama is the only one of the Democratic presidential candidates who explicitly encourages bicycle transportation in his platform (and I didn't find much from the Republicans either, other than that Mike Huckabee rides his bike to the grocery store). Here's the relevant quote from Obama's energy platform:
"As president, Barack Obama will re-evaluate the transportation funding process to ensure that smart growth considerations are taken into account. Obama will build upon his efforts in the Senate to ensure that more Metropolitan Planning Organizations create policies to incentivize greater bicycle and pedestrian usage of roads and sidewalks, and he will also re-commit federal resources to public mass transportation projects across the country. Building more livable and sustainable communities will not only reduce the amount of time individuals spent commuting, but will also have significant benefits to air quality, public health and reducing greenhouse gas emissions."
And, in a related note, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and one of bicycling's biggest supporters on Capitol Hill, had his bike commuter legislation stripped out of the energy bill this week. It would have allowed bike commuters to take a tax deduction on some of their costs, just as motorists and transit riders are allowed to do in certain circumstances. To halt a Republican filibuster, Democratic leaders agreed to remove a series of provisions of the bill, including the much bigger deal of continuing to provide federal timber payments to Oregon counties.
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