In a often contentious debate tonight at the 2008 Presidential Debates at Ole Miss University in Oxford, Mississippi, both Senators John McCain and Barrack Obama touched on the measures they will take to advance alternative and renewable energy as part of their energy policies as President.

“As president as a result of whatever financial rescue plan comes about and the billion, $700 billion, whatever it is it’s going to cost, what are you going to have to give up, in terms of the priorities that you would bring as president of the United States, as a result of having to pay for the financial rescue plan,” asked Jim Lehrer, debate moderator and host of Newshour on PBS, first to Sen. Obama.

“Well, there are a range of things that are probably going to have to be delayed. We don’t yet know what our tax revenues are going to be. The economy is slowing down, so it’s hard to anticipate right now what the budget is going to look like next year,” Obama answered.

“But there’s no doubt that we’re not going to be able to do everything that I think needs to be done. There are some things that I think have to be done,” he continued.

“We have to have energy independence, so I’ve put forward a plan to make sure that, in 10 years’ time, we have freed ourselves from dependence on Middle Eastern oil by increasing production at home, but most importantly by starting to invest in alternative energy, solar, wind, biodiesel, making sure that we’re developing the fuel-efficient cars of the future right here in the United States, in Ohio and Michigan, instead of Japan and South Korea.”

Obama explained the need for a new infrastructure that is needed to bring the electrity generated by renewable and alternative means to the cities and towns. He said that such an investment in alternative energy will help to ease our dependence of foreign oil and would create millions of jobs to complete such a big multi-year project.

A few moments laster, Obama attacked McCain’s record on alternative energy. “And I have to say, Senator McCain and I, I think agree on the importance of energy, but Senator McCain mentioned earlier the importance of looking at a record.

“Over 26 years, Senator McCain voted 23 times against alternative energy, like solar, and wind, and biodiesel.

“And so we — we — we’ve got to walk the walk and not just talk the talk when it comes to energy independence, because this is probably going to be just as vital for our economy and the pain that people are feeling at the pump — and, you know, winter’s coming and home heating oil — as it is our national security and the issue of climate change that’s so important.”

Senator McCain, on the other hand, was not as enthusiastic about renewable energy technologies, choosing first to address drilling for oil. “…it’s hard to get there from here,” McCain said. “And off-shore drilling is also something that is very important and it is a bridge.

“And we know that, if we drill off-shore and exploit a lot of these reserves, it will help, at temporarily, relieve our energy requirements. And it will have, I think, an important effect on the price of a barrel of oil.”

Sounding like he had just spoken to T. Boone Pickens, McCain echoed Pickens’ mantra that the United States sends over $700 billion a year to hostile countries: “Look,” said McCain, “we are sending $700 billion a year overseas to countries that don’t like us very much. Some of that money ends up in the hands of terrorist organizations. We have to have wind, tide, solar, natural gas, flex fuel cars and all that but we also have to have offshore drilling and we also have to have nuclear power.”

Both candidates agree on the need for more nuclear energy, with Obama stressing the need for safe disposal of nuclear energy waste.