Select2008 Blog - Comparing and tracking the 2008 presidential candidates

The Florida primaries are turning the race for the Republican nomination into a two-man race between John McCain and Mitt Romney. Although the two candidates emphasize their differences of personality, leadership style and record, both candidates disagree on five key policy issues:

- Energy and environment: both candidates disagree on the remedies to global warming and energy independence, such as supporting biofuels and corn ethanol subsidies, tapping into domestic sources of oil such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), setting up a Federal market to trade carbon emissions caps, and increasing research funding for alternative energy technology;

- Healthcare: both candidates disagree on market-based approaches to lower healthcare costs, to increase competition in the healthcare market and to increase access to health insurance, such as drug reimportation, setting up a means-tested tax credits for healthcare insurance, creating a tax deduction for out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, a tax deduction for healthcare costs, or subsidies to high-cost and low-income individuals to supplement tax credits and Medicaid;

- Homeland Security and war on terrorism: both candidates disagree on acceptable means to the war on terrorism, such as maintaining the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, supporting the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, like waterboarding,, and supporting the NSA‘s warrantless wiretapping program;

- Social issues: the candidates disagree on gun control and on whether to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution on marriage, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman; their support of a pro-life position and record on the question also differ;

- Taxes: the candidates’ proposed tax policies are different both on tax incentives to corporations and income tax; they also have not both signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

Popularity: 46% [?]