Nov. 15 Democratic debate transcript

Blitzer: All right, Senator, until there's some new technological breakthrough, as you would hope and all of us would hope, where do you send the waste?

Obama: Well, right now, it is on-site in many situations. And that is not the optimal situation, Wolf. But don't keep on assuming that we can't do something.

I mean, this is about the third time where you said, assuming we can't do it, what's our option?

Blitzer: Well, until we can...

Obama: But -- but -- but I'm running for president because I think we can do it.

I reject... I reject the notion that we can't meet our energy challenges.

Blitzer: All right.

Obama: We can, if we've got bold leadership in the White House that is saying we are going to do something about climate change, we are going to develop renewable energy sources. That's what I intend to do as president.

Blitzer: Let...

Obama: And we shouldn't, you know, be pessimistic about the future of America.

Blitzer: OK. Well, I'm optimistic.

Governor Richardson is a former energy secretary. What do you do with the nuclear waste, in the interim?

Richardson: Well, you mentioned all the labs, Argonne, Yucca Mountain. I was in charge of them.

Here's what you do. First, the future is renewable. It's not oil. It's not coal. It's not nuclear.

What you do with the waste is you don't put it in Yucca Mountain. All my life, as secretary of energy, as a congressman, I oppose the site, for environmental reasons, water saturation.

I don't think the answer also is in regional sites. There is a technological solution, a scientific solution.

What I would do, I would turn Yucca Mountain into a national laboratory. We have the greatest brains in our national lab scientists. We need to find a way to safely dispose of nuclear waste. There is a technological solution, but while we do that, we shouldn't be giving the nuclear power industry all of these advantages in the Senate bills that are coming forth, or subsidies. Oil, coal and nuclear are getting most of the subsidies.

We need an energy revolution in this country to shift from fossil fuels to renewable sources by 50 percent by the year 2020. Eighty percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are mandated.

We need to have 30 percent of our electricity renewable, and it's going to be also the American people -- I going to say this honestly -- sacrificing a little bit when it comes to appliances, when it comes to being part of an energy efficiency revolution.

Blitzer: Thank you, Governor.

Campbell?

Brown: Senator Clinton, you went to your alma mater recently, Wellesley College, and you said there that your tenure had prepared you to compete in the all-boys-club of presidential politics.

At the same time, your campaign has accused this all-boys-club, surrounding you on stage, of piling on with their attacks against you. And then your husband recently came to your defense by saying that these, quote, "boys," had been getting rough with you.

And some have suggested that you, that your campaign, that your husband are exploiting gender as a political issue during this campaign.

What's really going on here?

Clinton: Well, I'm not exploiting anything at all. I'm not playing, as some people say, the gender card here in Las Vegas. I'm just trying to play the winning card.

And I understand, very well, that people are not attack me because I'm a woman; they're attacking me because I'm ahead. And I understand that...

You know, as Harry Truman famously said, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

And I feel very comfortable in the kitchen.

And I'm going to withstand the heat. But, you know, this is really one of the kind of issues that we can laugh about because it's exciting when you look at this field of candidates.

You know, several of us would never have had a chance to stand here and run for president -- a Latino, an African-American, a woman -- if it hadn't been for the progress of America over my lifetime. And I am thrilled to be running to be the first woman president.

Brown: But, Senator, if I can just ask you, what did you mean at Wellesley when you referred to the "boy's club"?

Clinton: Campbell...

Brown: Just curious.

Clinton: Well, it is clear, I think, from women's experiences that from time to time, there may be some impediments.

And it has been my goal over the course of my lifetime to be part of this great movement of progress that includes all of us, but has particularly been significant to me as a woman.

And to be able to aim toward the highest, hardest glass ceiling is history-making.

Now, I'm not running because I'm a woman. I'm running because I think I'm the best qualified and experienced person to hit the ground running, but it's humbling...

It's been inspiring. And I have to tell you, as I travel around the country, you know, fathers drive hours to bring their daughters to my events. And so many women in their 90s wait to shake my hand. And they say something like: I'm 95 years old, I was born before women could vote, and I want to live long enough to see a woman in the White House.