Jean-Baptiste Redde aka Voltuan holds a banner reading "State of climate emergency" next to demonstrators dressed-up as polar bears during a rally called by several Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) to form a human chain on the Champs de Mars near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on December 12, 2015 on the sidelines of the COP21, the UN conference on global warming.French hosts submit the final version of a global climate-saving pact to negotiators at UN Conference on december 12. The goal is for ministers to approve the agreement by the end of the day but that could be extended one more day. / AFP / FRANCOIS GUILLOT (Photo credit should read FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images)

Jean-Baptiste Redde aka Voltuan holds a banner reading "State of climate emergency" next to demonstrators dressed-up as polar bears during a rally called by several Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) to form a human chain on the Champs de Mars near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on December 12, 2015 on the sidelines of the COP21, the UN conference on global warming. French hosts submit the final version of a global climate-saving pact to negotiators at UN Conference on december 12. The goal is for ministers to approve the agreement by the end of the day but that could be extended one more day. / AFP / FRANCOIS GUILLOT (Photo credit should read FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images) Photo: Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images

No Questions About Climate Change at GOP Debate Sponsored by Big Oil

The Republican presidential candidates were asked about the Super Bowl but not the future of the planet at a debate brought to you by the American Petroleum Institute.

Zaid Jilani

February 7 2016, 11:57 a.m.

Jean-Baptiste Redde aka Voltuan holds a banner reading "State of climate emergency" next to demonstrators dressed-up as polar bears during a rally called by several Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) to form a human chain on the Champs de Mars near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on December 12, 2015 on the sidelines of the COP21, the UN conference on global warming.French hosts submit the final version of a global climate-saving pact to negotiators at UN Conference on december 12. The goal is for ministers to approve the agreement by the end of the day but that could be extended one more day. / AFP / FRANCOIS GUILLOT (Photo credit should read FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images)

Jean-Baptiste Redde aka Voltuan holds a banner reading "State of climate emergency" next to demonstrators dressed-up as polar bears during a rally called by several Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) to form a human chain on the Champs de Mars near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on December 12, 2015 on the sidelines of the COP21, the UN conference on global warming. French hosts submit the final version of a global climate-saving pact to negotiators at UN Conference on december 12. The goal is for ministers to approve the agreement by the end of the day but that could be extended one more day. / AFP / FRANCOIS GUILLOT (Photo credit should read FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images) Photo: Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images

The Republican presidential candidates were asked about the Super Bowl but not the future of the planet Saturday night — there were no questions about climate change or global warming in the debate in St. Anselm College in New Hampshire.

Angelo Carusone, who works for pro-Hillary Clinton groups American Bridge and Media Matters, offered one possible reason why: The debate was sponsored by Big Oil:

Vote4Energy is a campaign of the American Petroleum Institute, the fossil fuel industry’s enormously powerful lobbying and trade association.

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