Campaign 2008- Where They Stand

Note to reader- The information placed here is non-biased and is taken directly from US News & World Report. The various issues are Education, Healthcare, Iraq War, Immigration, Economy, Social Policies (gay marriage, abortion) and the Environment. The point of this posting is to help make it easier for the voter to understand all the issues each canidate supports and therefore help them to make an informed decision. The Democratic nominee is highlighted in BLUE, and the Republican nominee in RED. Should any comments come as a result of this, they are heartily welcome.

Education: No Child Left Behind
Obama- Improve the tests and offer more support to schools that need help.
McCain- Consider changing testing requirements for some students.

Education: Teacher's Pay
Obama- Supports pay based on individual teacher performance.
McCain- Supports merit pay for individual teachers.

Education: Higher Education Affordability
Obama- Create a $4,000 tax credit to cover the cost of college tuition
McCain- Has not revealed any details of his plans.

Healthcare: Mandatory Insurance
Obama- Requiring insurance for children only. If coverage is affordable and there are subsidies, everyone will buy.
McCain- Health insurance is something people can chose to do

Healthcare: Guaranteed Coverage
Obama- Supports forbidding insurance companies to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions when people apply for coverage
McCain- has yet to reveal how his plan will protect people with pre-existing illnesses from being denied affordable insurance.

Healthcare: Restructuring the System
Obama- Want to expand people's choice of plans, possibly building on the plan for federal employees.
McCain- instaed of the tax break employees get on plans, McCain would give $2,500 to individuals and $5,000 to families to buy healthcare.

Iraq War: Decision to go to War
Obama- Opposes the war
McCain- critical of Bush's tactics 6 months into the war. Last year he became one of the staunches defenders of the president's current surge strategy.

Iraq War: Timetables for Troop Withdrawl
Obama- Allow the military commanders to adjust the withdrawl. Envisions a limited future troop presence in Iraq.
McCain- Calling for more troops in Iraq before the surge, but he would run up against the limits of a severely strained U.S. military.

Iraq War: Effects on the War in Afghanistan
Obama- Wants to pull troops out of Iraq in part to increase the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan. He would use the extra soldiers as leverage for additional troop commitments from NATO.
McCain- offered few specifics on whether or not more troops are needed in Afghanistan, but has recommended an increased emphasis on development aid.

Immigration: Border Fence
Obama- Voted for the fence, but is de-emphasizing his support.
McCain- Voted for the fence and has encouraged agreements to allow the government to enter private property to survey the land.

Immigration: Guest-Worker Program
Obama- Supports a guest-worker program with a database of workers, arguing it will improve wages and conditions for all workers.
McCain- cosponsored the failed Senate bill that proposed a guest-worker program with a registry and a path to legalization for illegal immigrants.

Immigration: Legalization/Amnesty
Obama- supports giving illegal immigrants a path to legal residency.
McCain- as the principal author of the failed immigration bill, which would have given illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, McCain has struggled to convince conservatives that his plan is not amnesty.

Immigration: Enforcement & Security
Obama- voted for comprehensive immigration reform and has stressed that legalized workers will boost U.S. wages.
McCain- moved from pushing the cause of legalization to emphasizing the need for border security first.

Economy: Taxes
Obama- would also give a $1,000 tax credit to working families.
McCain- wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, cut corporate taxes, and repeal the alternative minium tax.

Economy: Spending
Obama- would reinstate pay-as-you-go federal budget rules.
McCain- plans to balance the budget in 4 years by cutting the growth of discretionary domestic spending and eliminating earmarks.

Economy: Energy Prices
Obama- proposes investing $150 billion over 10 years in green technologies. He would also create a clean-energy venture capital fund.
McCain- proposes more domestic oil drilling, building 45 nuclear power plants, and investign $2 billion a year to develop clean-coal technology.

Social Policy: Abortion
Obama- strongly supports abortion rights, but has also been emphasizing his commitment to reducing the number of abortions.
McCain- rarely talks about abortion publicly, but helped pass the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.

Social Policy: Roe v. Wade
Obama- he will nominate judges who uphold Roe v. Wade
McCain- pledged to appoint judges like Justice Antonin Scalia, an opponent of Roe.

Social Policy: Same-Sex Marriage
Obama- supports gay civil unions with all the legal benefits of marriage.
McCain- has said same-sex marriage is a matter best left to the states, but supports efforts to ban it in California and Arizona.

Environment: Global Warming
Obama- supports a cap-and-trade policy to limit domestic greenhouse gas emissions and would require polluters to buy allowances.
McCain- supports a cap-and-trade policy but would distribute some allowances at no charge.

Environment: Offshore Drilling
Obama- keep the federal ban on offshore drilling in place, arguing ti would not reduce gas prices.
McCain- would lift the federal ban on offshore drilling but bar drilling in environmentally sensitive areas.

Environment: Alternative Energy
Obama- supports tax incentives and subsidies for the development of wind and solar technologies, as well as for biofuels.
McCain- opposes government subsidies for ethanol production, supports lifting tariffs on foreign ethanol and promotes expaning nuclear energy.