Anyone who has filled their gas tank recently probably considers energy one of the top, if not the top, campaign issue in the 2008 presidential race. To their credit, both candidates are talking about it.

But from a nuclear power standpoint, the edge clearly goes to John McCain.

During a recent campaign swing through the Midwest, McCain told crowds of his goal, if elected, to build 45 new nuclear reactors in America by 2030. We have 104 now, providing about 20 percent of U.S. energy needs.

McCain recognizes what a clean, safe alternative energy nuclear power is -- and more people would know it if that message could be heard over the din of fretting environmentalists who exaggerate perceived dangers of nuclear plants.

Nuclear plants' safety records are outstanding, especially when you consider the thousands of people who die prematurely each year in America from complications created by coal-powered plants' emissions. And nuclear plant operating costs are dirt cheap when compared to its competing energy sources.

How refreshing to see a presidential candidate who grasps part of the solution to America's most current energy crisis.