Newswise — Energy needs and environmental concerns are hot topics in this campaign season, and are likely to play a key role in determining which candidate will get voters' support in November.

Dr. Richard C. Kearney, director of the School of Public and International Affairs at North Carolina State University, is a nationally recognized authority on political science and public policy issues with a focus on environmental policy - including renewable energy, "green collar" jobs and climate change.

Kearney has published extensively on public policy and administration issues, and has been featured on MSNBC and in over a dozen print publications including the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the Miami Herald.

"Republicans are all about supply-side energy. Democrats are more about affecting the demand side," Kearney says. "I'm not sure McCain has a good grasp of cap and trade or renewables' complexities," Kearney says, "and Obama is throwing a lot of stuff out there but hasn't really set any priorities." At this point, Kearney adds, the debate has become "so tangled" that it is "almost ethereal."

Editor's Note: Kearney is available for phone and e-mail interviews. He is also available for broadcast interviews, with some advance notice, via an IP to IP connection.