Opinion: Columnists  Manhattan Moment: The amazing competition
for coal and oil jobs in swing states   Who would have predicted
that one of the most contentious issues in the 2012 presidential
campaign would be which candidate is more bullish about coal,
oil and natural gas?  Some supporters were stunned at President
Obama's insistence in the debates that he deserves credit for
America's recent oil and gas boom, which is taking place almost
entirely on private and state lands, as well his vocal support
for clean coal -- coal, for goodness sake, the pinata of the
anti-carbon crowd! Obama even attempted to paint GOP nominee
Mitt Romney as having vestigial anti-coal sentiments! What a
change from 2008.  This has emerged from this election's de
facto watch-phrase: "It's about the jobs, stupid." Both Romney
(unsurprisingly) and Obama (somewhat surprisingly) are voicing
full-throated support of hydrocarbons (oil, gas and coal) as
they swing through critical battleground states in the eleventh
hour.  Here's what bot