Political Research and comments

I've been doing a little political research and here is a beginning list of what I've found with a few comments... more to come

Abortion

Clinton favors abortion rights, but supports family planning.
Obama- favors abortion rights "it's an individual choice"

McCain- thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned (pro-life)
Huckabee- thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned (pro-life)

Energy
Clinton- reduce dependence on foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Sen. Clinton opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and voted for a bill to expand offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (this seems like a contradiction to me).

Obama- reduce dependence on foreign oil, cap and trade on emissions
Again- I'm not too keen on the whole cap and trade on emissions
"We can set up a system for capping greenhouse gases. We can turn this crisis of global warming into a moment of opportunity for innovation and job creation and an incentive for businesses that will serve as the model for the world."

McCain- cap and trade on emissions
His plan would allow companies to trade excess carbon emission capacity and require emissions to return to 2004 levels by 2012 and to 1990 levels by 2020. (Seems like it allows some companies to be irresponsible for the right price)

Huckabee- wants to gain energy independence by his second term
"I ultimately see this as a combination of solar, wind, hydrogen cells, especially biofuels and ethanol, because we can grow it through our agricultural economy, which would be great to a state like ours. But it would also include nuclear and clean coal and any other form that we can find that we can produce that makes us where we no longer are going to be dependent upon foreign oil sources." (This is a big deal to me growing up in an oilfield town)

I mmigration

Clinton- favors immigration reform and says we should track people in the country
She has attracted criticism for giving different positions on a now-failed New York proposal to give illegal immigrants driver's licenses. Her campaign at first indicated support for the program, but Clinton later said she would not back such a plan. (FLIP-FLOP)

Obama- wants path to citizenship and immigration reform
Sen. Obama says that he would not grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. He supports a system through which illegal immigrants could earn citizenship by paying a fine, obeying the law, learning English, and going to the back of the line behind legal immigrants. (Sounds Pretty Fair)

McCain- Sen. McCain wants a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would improve border surveillance and enforcement, strengthen penalties against those who hire illegal immigrants and stop document fraud. He wants to develop a sensible guest worker program that allows illegal immigrants to earn legitimate status.
(He's more lenient than some, but it seems as if he goes back and forth on how to handle this issue)

Huckabee-Gov. Huckabee favors allowing illegal aliens in the country to apply for legal status by registering with authorities, paying a fine, getting guest worker permits, learning to speak English and paying taxes. Such applicants for legal status must not be allowed to jump ahead of legal applicants. He says earned legalization is not an amnesty.
(Also lenient, but his voting is consistent- I do think that programs that seems attainable to illegals will be more likely to "work" and)

Amanda