When anyone invests $300 million dollars into promoting alternative energy sources, the Democrats usually take notice.  When that person is an oil tycoon, brother of a "Bush Pioneer", and someone who was a major contributor to the 2004 Swift Boat ads, that person gets an invitation from Nancy Pelosi to speak before the
House Democratic Caucus.

Meet T. Boone Pickens.

His plan is grabbing support from both sides of the fence, but the Democrats in particular have embraced it.  This is happening despite Pickens' recent criticism of Al Gore's plan.

A full overview of his plan is at PickensPlan.com, but here are the sticking points that drive the plan:

• US Oil imports nearing 70% at $700 billion per year
• The United States uses 25% of the oil in the world
• Natural Gas is the 2nd largest natural resource in the country and accounts for 22% of the electricity produced
• There are 8,000,000 cars in the world that run on natural gas
• Wind can replace the need for natural gas in electric production

The bulk of the plan is this: The central corridor in the United States is ripe for utilizing and harvesting wind for generating electricity.  By harnessing this, the 22% of electricity that is currently being produced using natural gas can be completely replaced by wind energy.

If we take the natural gas that was being used for electricity and convert it for use in transportation, the United States' dependency on foreign oil would be reduced by 38%, or $300,000,000,000 per year.  Natural gas is cleaner, it's abundant in the United States, and wind is, for all intents and purposes, limitless.

"This can all be accomplished in less than 10 years if you have the right leadership, and that's the key to it," Pickens said.  "We have to have the right leadership and everybody in this country has to cooperate.  We have to get on the same team, we have to march in the same direction, but we all know that we're going to get loose from this right here."

He points to the chalkboard with his energy illustrations, then continues, "But that is a stranglehold on our country that we can't live with.  It's that simple."

This, in essence, is why the Democrats want to make him a poster-boy.  They want their candidates, Barack Obama in particular, to champion this plan.  It is an alternative to the drill and burn proposals that the Republicans are backing that, in theory, should yield the same if not better results from an economy perspective.

It appeals to the green aspects of energy with its focus on wind being the primary source of the solution.  Without wind, the plan doesn't work.

Despite all of this, the primary reason the Democrats love the Pickens plan is the source. This time last year, he represented almost everything the Democratic party was against: big oil, small government, lowering taxes... standard GOP stances.  Now, the man who worked against Al Gore and challenged John Kerry is now promoting something that is traditionally unconservative.

T. Boone Pickens is fighting for the environment and fighting for alternatives to oil.  Pelosi, Reed, and possibly Barack Obama are smiling at the prospects.

"And this isn't going to solve this thing forever," Pickens said about his plan.  "I'll be gone, but younger people are going to say 'Hey, look, we got in a bad spot and we got out,'  What will happen is that you'll go to the electric car, you'll go to hydrogen, you'll go to something, but you're going to have 20 or 30 years to bridge to that point."

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