2008 Democratic Candidate Issues Comparison

[Ignatius J.]

I know its early on in the process, but I wanted to try to collect some information about a democratic candidate issues comparison I'm working on. You can take a look at the comparison here:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddxbv3cn_3g29zvk

It's pretty long but I think it answers many questions about the democrats and the kind of platforms they intend to run on.

I'd really appreciate it if any of you democrats out there could tell me a few things, like

1) Does reading this piece change your opinion about any of the candidates, and how?

2) Who do you think comes off the best?

3) the worst?

4) any and all comments also welcome!

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to look at this. I think that we may have ourselves quite the race in both parties this year.

[twa]

Is this limited to dems or are swing votes welcome?

[Ignatius J.]

Of course all comments are welcome. If you are definately not going to vote in the democratic promary though, you should mention that, since I am most interested in how this affects the primary.

[Burgold]

Well, I can tell you this reads to me like feel good pablum and makes me respect him less.

Joe Biden:

http://www.joebiden.com/issues/#0003

To improve health care, Joe Biden believes we need to "modernize the system, simplify the system, and reduce errors." He would expand health insurance for children and relieve families and businesses of the burden of expensive catastrophic cases. He supports states that are pursuing innovative alternatives and believes we should "use data from these states to evaluate what works best."

[DjTj]

eh ... too many of the candidates have really incomplete stances on the issues. They'll probably still equivocate all the way through the primaries, but once there are actual debates, they will get pinned down to answers and it will be easier to draw distinctions.

The only thing that stands out to me reading through this is that all the candidates are trying to say the same thing: everyone wants to withdraw from Iraq, everyone wants to move towards universal health care, everyone wants to increase fuel efficiency, everyone wants to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations, and everyone is in favor of free trade but not at the expense of American workers.

I really don't think most primary elections are decided on small distinctions between issues - it will be more about who voters feel can best represent them on issues that are solidly part of the Democratic platform: changing course on Iraq, abortion rights, the environment, etc ... presentation may be more important than details.

[daddys little skins fan]

this is going to be the first election i'm old enough to vote in, so i want to stay on top of things as well. i think voting is extremely important in our democratic government.

for me, it's mainly between obama and clinton. there's something about hillary clinton that i just don't like. i can't quite put my finger on what it is though. her stances on the issues weren't too far off of what i would like to see in a president, however.

i'm just going to have to keep up with the info. as it becomes a little bit more detailed, because, as previously said, alot of the ideas are still incomplete.

[Enter Apotheosis]

After having read that, I don't think I really learned ANYTHING about any of the candidates. Really, no one is going to put out a significant amount of concrete plans until closer to the election. Personally, I'm more confident in Obama than any other Democrat... but I'm not even sure I can confidently say I know his take on many issues.