Presidential debate and climate change

"What strikes me as important is that energy has risen to the top of the list in terms of issues that people are concerned about right now. It's really energy, the economy, health care, and the war that are dominating the conversation," said Gillian Caldwell, campaign director for 1Sky. "And energy is of course so connected to the conversation that we're having about the economy and the war, and it even has substantial health implications when you think about particulate matter and hot spots and the disproportionate impact on low-income communities."

The most heralded portion of the debate was the question from Ingrid Jackson asking the candidates what they would do in their first two years in office regarding climate change.

"After the millions of questions with zero focus on global warming, we got a really good one," said Jamie Henn, co-coordinator for 350.org. "I think that what the questions emphasized, and what was exciting about it, was the need for speed. We don't just want ambitious plans, we want something to get started right away."

Henn said the candidates didn't look like they were expecting any questions on climate change last night.

"It seemed like it almost caught them off guard a bit. They got warmed up as they were talking about it, but it's understandable. They haven't gotten any questions from the media on global warming lately," he said.