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Newly minted Democrat Arlen Specter is walking a political tight rope on cap and trade. Facing a liberal primary challenge from Joe Sestak, he has told the Democratic base he's on board with their vision of climate change legislation. But representing a manufacturing state that could be hard hit by such a policy, Specter is exercising his characteristic caution. From the New York Times:

While most environmentalists viewed the bill as being far weaker than the legislation crafted by Boxer and other Democratic leaders, Specter nonetheless was one of the few congressional Republicans to attach his name to a climate change bill.

Specter, however, has yet to endorse the Kerry-Boxer bill, saying that he believed the bill could be structured in a way that is "economically responsible" and "environmentally effective" but also saying that it needed a number of modifications. Among them: the inclusion of a price collar guaranteeing more price certainty than the House version, a combination of incentives and payments to ensure commercial deployment of carbon capture technology, and the inclusion of adequate allowances to protect energy-intensive manufacturing.

Cap and trade is going to prove an even tougher sell than health care.