January
Republican candidates bring variety to table
u I saac C allagan _____________
Staff Reporter
November of 08' is still
eleven months away, yet the
major presidential candidates
have been campaigning for
months. The frontrunners for
the Republican party, Rudy
Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Mike
Huckabee, John McCain and
Ron Paul have insinuated
themselves into the public
eye and are jockeying for the
lead in the ever-important
primaries.
The candidates represent
a party divided by the
legacy, good and bad, of the
Bush administration. As a
result this batch of hopefuls
balances ideals as varied as
their backgrounds. The race is
full to the brim of governors,
senators, representatives and
even a mayor.
Rudy Giuliani: Often
described as a moderate,
Giuliani has a right-leaning
position on issues such
as health care, education,
environment, foreign
policy and taxes.
Giuliani is
against
universal
health care
and supports
tax credits for
those families
that choose
private
health
insurance
policies.
He has also consistently
supported the war in Iraq
and is one the proponents
of invading Iran. He has
suggested that the President
possesses the power to
divert any amount of
federal funding despite any
opposition from Congress.
Giuliani is also unopposed
to the use of tactical nuclear
weapons to eradicate any
threat.
On education, Giuliani
has clashed with the New
York Board of Education,
expressing frustration
with the way it works. He
supports education vouchers,
a move that would allow
more children to attend
private school.
In a rare position for
Republicans, Giuliani is fully
behind the idea of global
warming. He has said that
A1 Gore's movie did not go
far enough in explaining the
dangers of global warming.
Despite his anti-tax stance,
Giuliani has acted many
times in his reign as mayor
to retain certain taxes, such
as commuter taxes and
income taxes. Recently, he has
expressed reluctant support
for a flat tax, while admitting
the difficulties there would be
in adopting one.
Mitt Romney: The
governor of Massachusetts
has made resolutions in
the past requiring that the
majority of Massachusetts
residents acquire health care.
He has also supported dental
and eyeglass coverage for
low-income families.
A longtime supporter of
the Iraq war, Romney's goal
is to seek stability in the
region, to avoid civil war
and to reduce the numbers of
insurgents.
Romney has declared his
support of governmental
policies about education and
has stood behind the No
Child Left Behind act. He is
also against sex education in
kindergarten.
His campaign features
a strong commitment to
the environment; Romney
supports stronger emissions
standards and the regulation
of greenhouse gas. Despite
this, he also supports drilling
for oil in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge.
Romney has seesawed
back and forth on taxes.
During the middle of his
terms, his actions have
caused taxes to increase, but
during the election
season, Romney
has stood in
Ifavor of large
¡lax cuts.
§ Mike
¡Huckabee:
¡Huckabee's
¡position on
health care
¡ties strongly
ion the
prevention
s i d e
rather than the
treatment side. He is an
advocate of exercise and has
promoted healthy eating.
He is also against universal
health care, and wants
citizens to take a more active
role in their own health.
Huckabee is a strong
supporter of the Iraq
war, believing it is an
uncompleted job that must be
finished. Also a supporter of
the troop surge, he believes
it is the responsibility of the
American people to not leave
Iraq in chaos and to clean it
up before withdrawing.
Huckabee is a believer in
character education, and a
supporter of charter schools.
Part of his platform is his
support of the presence of
the Ten Commandments in
schools.
His support of
environmentalism is
unwavering, as he believes
that a commitment to
preventing global warming
is a moral issue. He has
expressed his support for
the environment throughout
his term as governor of
Arkansas.
Huckabee is unequivocally
against taxes. As well as
supporting the FairTax
system, Huckabee lowered
taxes 94 times while he was
governor.
John McCain: McCain
has made a strong stance
on health care. He supports
expanded taxes on cigarettes
and providing funding to
purchase prescription drugs
for the elderly. McCain has
a goal to expand health
care to 11 million uninsured
children.
McCain's stance on foreign
policy is complicated. Despite
his continued support for the
war, he has also criticized the
president several times over
his actions and the Pentagon
on the amount of troops in
Iraq.
McCain is not popular
among teachers, receiving a
45% rating from the National
Education Association. He
supports vouchers along
with merit pay for teachers.
He swings both ways
though, and supports the
immediate firing of teachers
who aren't up to standards.
McCain has a moderately
friendly voting record on
the environment. He is
opposed to drilling in the
Arctic and supports global
warming policies.
His stance of taxation
shows support for both sides.
He refused to sign a pledge
banning new taxes and voted
against tax cuts in 2001.
However, in 2006 McCain
voted to extend Bush's tax
cuts.
Ron Paul: Paul
voted against the Iraq
war resolution and has
continuously opposed U.S.
presence in Iraq. He feels that
he would only support the
war if it were against those
responsible for the events of
September 11, 2001.
A strong supporter
of health care, Paul is in
favor of reduced health
costs for families and the
use of medical marijuana.
He also voted to allow the
government to negotiate the
best prices for prescription
drugs for Medicare.
Against federal control
of education, Paul opposes
the No Child Left Behind
policies. His support lies
behind education tax credits
so families can choose which
schools their children atten
Paul is strongly for
environmental controls
and protection. He feels
that polluters should not
be granted any kind of
immunity from accountability
and has supported issues
such as hemp production
and the opposition of nuclear
power plants.
Paul is strongly against
taxes and large government.
He has supported removal of
the Internal Revenue Service
and supports the repeal of
the Sixteenth Amendment,
which authorizes the levying
of income taxes.
On Jan. 3, the results of
the Iowa caucuses came in,
with Huckabee and Romney
claiming the top two spots.
In a disappointing finish,
McCain, Paul and Giuliani
grabbed the fourth, fifth
and sixth spots. While these
are only the primary results
from Iowa, the outcome
could have a ripple effect on
further polls.
Democratic candidates preview future
S arah C hicoine
co-Editor-in-Chief
As George W. Bush's
final year as president
slowly comes to a close, one
can't help but notice the
campaigns surrounding the
democratic candidates and
wonder, who is next? On
Aug. 26-28 Denver, Colo, will
be host to the Democratic
National Convention,
where the state delegates
will vote for who will be
their presidential and vice-
presidential candidates in the
'08 race.
With eight
candidates
running
for the
democratic
nomination,
the field of
contenders
is quite diverse. The
three front runners
Barack Obama, an
African-American
senator, Hilary
Clinton, senator from
New York and former
first-lady, and John Edwards,
former senator returning
after a run for vice-president
in 2004.
Hilary Clinton: Her
strong health care policy
is threefold, affordable,
available and reliable.
She plans to make it more
affordable by providing tax
credits for working families.
Clinton proposes to make
it more reliable by letting
families keep their health
care, even if they lose or
change jobs. Lastly, she plans
to make it more available
by making it impossible for
insurance companies to deny
coverage if one has a pre-
exisiting condition.
Clinton hopes to decrease
the U.S.'s involvement in
Iraq as soon as possible. She
wants to implement a plan
to withdraw the troops and
focus on stabilizing Iraq
through diplomatic initiative
as well as engaging other
countries in securing Iraq's
future.
On education, Clinton
plans to reform the No Child
Left Behind Act employed
by Bush, keeping its promise
and rewarding schools with
resources that maintain
accountability.
Clinton addresses the
environment by promising
to strengthen energy and
auto efficiency standards and
significantly
increase the
funding
for green
research
as well as
reduce
★ ★★★
Jpk
WiS America's
W reliance on
foreign oil.
Barack
He plans to
develop the U.S.'s health
care system by providing
affordable and portable
health care coverage to every
American with the formation
of a National Health Care
Exchange. This would ensure
affordable coverage for all,
lower health care costs and
increase cost competition
between insurance
companies.
Obama, who voted against
entering the war from the
beginning, plans to put an
end to it by immediately
starting to withdraw troops
at a steady rate and complete
it by the end of next year. In
order to better the situation
in Iraq, he plans to convene
Obama:
with the United Nations and
Iraq's Leaders.
Another policy Obama is
focusing on is education. To
improve education Obama
plans to put more money
into the system. He wants
teachers to get paid more and
make it easier for students
to pay for college by making
funding more accessible.
He also plans to offer more
rigorous courses at the
high school level. To attract
teachers, he plans to offer
Teacher Service Scholarships
that will cover four years of
undergraduate education
and two more years of
graduate school in exchange
for teaching for at least four
years in a high-need location
Obama's environmental
policy looks to reduce
the U.S.'s negative
environmental effects by
starting a program to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions,
invest $150 billion dollars
over the next ten years to
develop new energy sources
and improve our energy
efficiency.
John Edwards: Edwards,
currently third in the polls,
wants to create a universal
health care program that will
directly involve insurance
and drug companies, cover
everyone and decrease the
cost.
Edwards' efforts to end
the war in Iraq are similar
to other candidates. He
wants to start withdrawing
troops immediately. Also,
he plans to make certain
that troops are obtaining the
proper training and to make
certain that Congress knows
that Bush overstepped his
boundaries in the funding
of Iraq.
Democratic Siriilliles_____
continued on page 12