WASHINGTON — When John McCain came to Ohio last week, he gave a fleeting glimpse of what he envisioned life would be like at the end of a hypothetical McCain term in 2013.

The Iraq war, he predicted, would be won.

More free trade agreements would be ratified.

And he would've instituted a cap and trade program aimed at helping to solve global warming.

That's where he and Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, differ. Voinovich has been an outspoken opponent of the Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade bill, which caps emissions and allow industries to trade their spare emissions credits with companies that need them. McCain has introduced a similar measure, though he has yet to endorse the Lieberman-Warner bill because of concerns that their bill doesn't adequately address nuclear power.

Voinovich, though argues the Lieberman-Warner bill would decimate Ohio's economy and drive utility costs up by as much as 50 percent.

He said while the United States could institute a cap-and-trade program, it would do nothing to limit emissions in rapidly industrializing nations such as China, where they're bringing two coal-fired utility plants up a week.

His approach is vintage Voinovich. He wants to use public diplomacy to push other countries to bring down emissions, and argues that the technology isn't there yet for an effective carbon-capture program. His plan, he said, would include a Manhattan Project-style attack aimed at figuring out how to use technology to solve the problem.

"You don't hear me arguing about the facts of the problem," he said.

His opinion also differs from Larry Brown of Kettering, a Dayton Audubon Center employee who found himself sitting before a series of congressional aides, making his case to end global warming.

Brown, who describes himself as the type of guy more comfortable talking about birds and rocks than policy, argues someone needs to quickly take a leadership role to solve the problem. He thinks cap-and-trade may be the best answer.

"I take a lot of school groups out, a lot of kids out to see what's going on in world, so they can see the changes happening in habitats and environments" he said. " It's frightening to think of what it's going to be like when they're my age or even older."

He also views it from a Christian perspective. "It's a stewardship issue," he said.

But to Voinovich, the issue is also one of caring for the people here. He envisions little old ladies unable to afford to keep the lights on, businesses leaving and leaving more people unemployed. It's an emotional issue for him as well.

He agrees there is a problem. It's just how to fix it that's a source of contention.

"I'm confident if we can show that (cap and trade) is not the right approach, then we can come up with a compromise that will put technology first, internationalism first, and get at dealing with the problem," he said.

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