Kerry and Alternative Energy

There was a breathlessly-worded diary on this last night, but I think a more measured discussion is required on what should be a major issue of the summer campaign.

The idea is that Kerry imitate JFK's space-travel challenge with an alternative energy challenge. Kerry's already drawn the parallel with his terrible "go to the moon right here on Earth" line, one I hope to never hear again. If he's going to do this in a meaningful way, though, he needs to have an honest-to-goodness plan laid out so that it comes off as a real proposal and not campaign rhetoric.

What I'm looking for in this diary is suggestions about the exact shape that proposal should take. My two cents: the simplest form would be a major public investment. However, that will be pilloried as excessive spending, especially given that his health-care plan is already considered expensive, we're waging a war, and GWB has created incredible deficits. So I would suggest that he propose a realistic partnerships with groups in the private sector that helps to mitigate public spending and makes use of efforts in this area by existing companies. This would make Kerry look like a moderate, "new solutions" type, and could mobilize the energies of some companies legitimately looking for an edge on these technologies.

This matter, if done right, would not only be great for the country and the world, but would also be campaign gold. It combines jobs, the environment-- and our troubling relationship with the Middle East (particularly Saudi Arabia) and OPEC (and, by extension, the war in Iraq), as it would minimize our dependency on middle east oil. It also contrasts beautifully with Bush's meaningless and already-much-lampooned Mars proposal, and highlights his corporate cronyism: we all know Bush can't do this because he's in bed with Big Oil (hell, he was born there).

So anybody have some good ideas?