Obama: Missing His Ride
Obama owned and drove a gas-guzzling Chrysler 300C until he was called out on it by Ford executive chairman Bill Ford Jr. in May 2007. ”I would love to invite him to our Chicago assembly plant, which is in his state, where we make a vehicle that’s more fuel-efficient than the one he’s currently driving,” Ford said to an audience at a policy conference. Obama’s press secretary assured green voters that he had sold the car—which gets 17 mpg in city driving and 25 mpg on the highway—and replaced it with a Ford Escape Hybrid. These days, Obama rides in a Secret Service–y Chevy Suburban.
McCain: A Bus, a Wing, and a Prayer
For his 2000 campaign, McCain boarded the good motor coach “Straight Talk Express,” and traveled across the country with his campaign team and a host of reporters in tow. The bus (presumably a different model) returned for the 2008 campaign and the candidate is using it once again to woo reporters. In the summer of 2007, McCain rode a bus that cost $9,000 a day. As funds dwindled and his campaign was left for dead, McCain downgraded to a bus that cost $9,000 a month, according to the Chicago Tribune.
When not riding around in a bus, McCain drives a Cadillac CTS. If he needs to fly, his campaign commissions a JetBlue plane. McCain acknowledges the size of his carbon footprint but is quick to praise other, greener members of his family. “My daughter, Meghan, drives a [hybrid] Toyota Prius, so at least one of us is trying to make a difference,” he told the National Review.