Hillary Clinton on the Issues

Abortion - Supports abortion rights

Gun Control - Supports licensing and registration of handguns, mandatory trigger locks for handguns, holding adults responsible for their children's use of guns, raising the youth handgun ban from age 18 to 21, limiting gun sales to one per month and allowing the Consumer Products Safety Commission regulate guns.

Health Care - Wants to mandate individual health insurance coverage for all Americans. Offer federal subsidies for those who cannot afford it and allow individuals to choose private plans also offered to members of Congress, as well as a new public insurance plan modeled after Medicare. Requires insurance companies to offer coverage to anyone who applies, and bars insurance companies from charging higher premiums to those with pre-existing condidtions. Requires large businesses to provide or help pay for employee coverage. Expands Medicaid and federal children's health care programs. Offers tax credits to limit health care premiums to a certain percentage a family's income. Cost estimated at $110 billion annually, to be paid for by eliminating the Bush tax cuts for those earning over $250,000, as well as by reducing waste and inefficiencies in the current system. Also limits the amount employers can exclude from taxes for health care benefits for those making over $250,000.

Immigration - Supported Bush-backed immigration reform legislation, which would have increased funding and improved border security technology, improved enforcement of existing laws, and provided a legal path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants. Voted to authorize construction of a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexican border.

War in Iraq - Voted for use of troops in Iraq, but now opposes the war. Voted for war spending bill that would have withdrawn most U.S. troops by March 2008. Opposed Bush plan to increase the number of American troops in Iraq. Supports a phased redeployment and a cap on the number of American troops in Iraq.

Gay Marriage - Opposes same-sex marriage but supports civil unions. She says states should decide the issue. Opposes a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Social Security - Opposes the Bush plan allowing workers to divert some Social Security payroll taxes into private retirement accounts.

Taxes - Opposes the Bush tax cuts

Taking a Closer Look at the Iowa Results

The story on the Democrat side of Thursday's results in Iowa wasn't so much that Barak Obama won but rather Hillary Clinton got 3rd behind John Edwards. Obama received 38%, Edwards 30%, and Clinton 29%. The rest of the Democrat ticket combined for only 3% of the turnout.

With Republicans, Huckabee and Romney broke away from the pack with 34% and 25% of the vote. The big shocker in this one was Guiliani only getting 3%.Guiliani came in 6th amongst GOP candidates trailing 5th place Ron Paul by a whopping 7%. Thompson and McCain tied for 3rd with 13%.

Democrats			Republicans
Obama	38%		Huckabee	34%
Edwards	30%		Romney	25%
Clinton	29%		Thompson	13%
Richardson	2%		McCain	13%
Biden	1%		Paul	10%
Dodd	0%		Guiliani	3%
Gravel	0%		Hunter	0%
Kucinich	0%		Tancredo	0%

Looking at the numbers the Clinton camp has to be a little worried about a snowball effect. Should Obama, Edwards, and Clinton finish in the same exact order in New Hampshire expect the spread to be larger with Obama taking from both candidates.

It is a troubling sign for a campaign such as Romney's to pour so much money into a primary and finish 9 points back. When asked about his thoughts on being beat by he said he was happy to cut Huckabee's lead in half. Sorry folks, when the money spent in the final week of a campaign is so heavy and so lobsided the campaign spending the money should only be 3 points from the lead in most worst case scenarios. His numbers should rebound in New Hampshire.

Guiliani knew he was tanking in Iowa a few weeks ago and deployed the cut-and-run tactic to try and get a head start on New Hampshire. This is a dangerous tactic because voters aren't always rational and as a mass are prone to further trends seen in recent primaries. That said I believe he will rebound in New Hampshire but will find things less inviting as he moves into states farther away from the Atlantic. The evangelical vote will eventually sink him.

By now most of you must be expecting me to declare Huckabee as the GOP Nominee. I'm not going to do that. I don't think we will have a truly clear picture until there is a more diverse set of results. However, Thompson, McCain, Paul, and Guiliani must put themselves within 10% of the leader over the course of the next two primaries. Those that cannot accomplish that are done and should drop out.

Undorsements for Iowa

The Iowa primaries are just a few days away and I haven't got a clear idea of who I would vote for if I lived in Iowa. However, I do have a couple of ideas why I wouldn't vote for a few candidates. Here are my undorsements for next week's primary.

Mitt Romney
His stances on the issues flip when it appears politically advantagious. His position on abortion changed around the same time he began exploring the road to the White House.

Hillary Clinton
The only thing she serves is her own political ambitions.

Rudy Guliani
He would be running as a Democrat if he lived in any state other than New York. His views don't match his party monicker.

Cynthia mcKinney at it Again

Controversy caused her to lose the Democratic Congressional primary runoff in 2006.

Now she wants to be the first African-American woman President of the United States from the Green Party.

Campaign site

Political Nut Election Guide

Its important that voters know what positions the candidates have on the issues. Therefore, we will publish posts showing where they stand by the issue as well a complete profile for a specific candidate.

January Primary Schedule

The primaries are upon us. These are the states nominating in the month of January.

• January 3: Iowa
• January 8: New Hampshire
• January 5: Wyoming (R)
• January 15: Michigan
• January 19: Nevada, South Carolina (R)
• January 26: South Carolina (D)
• January 29: Florida

source: National Association of Secretaries of State

Congress Passes bill to Address Oil Refinery Shortages in United States

Gas prices have become a big deal throughout the country. Here Congress has passed bill 5254 to address this issue. This bill has obvious political ramnifications. It also has huge supply-side potential. More U.S. refineries makes will lower fuel prices around the world.

"No new refinery has been built in the United States in 30 years, and the high gas prices we're experiencing at the pump are directly related to our nation's lack of refinery capacity," Souder said. "In fact, there are currently 148 operating refineries in the United States, down from 324 in 1981. The result has been a bottleneck in domestic refining and an increased reliance on foreign refineries. This bill would make it easier to construct new refineries here in the United States."
"In early May, the Democrats took advantage of the parliamentary process and killed this bill," Souder added. "Fortunately, we were able to bring it back up for consideration, and it was passed today." - Congressman Mark Souder (IN3), co-author of the bill.

The Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act would:

• Establish a federal coordinator to convene all U.S. government agencies responsible for issuing permits to develop a refinery facility, and help them coordinate and expedite their schedules so that decisions on permits can move more efficiently;
• direct the President to identify at least three closed military bases as suitable sites for new refineries, one of which must be designated for biofuel refining;
• give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency priority in the scheduling coordination, thereby preserving the strict environmental standards that must be met for these facilities to be developed.
  
  H.R. 5254 will now be sent to the Senate for further action.

What Does the Death of Al-Zarqawi Really Mean?

We all remember the "mission accomplished" fiasco, and the promises of brighter times after the capture of Saddam. The Bush Administration has learned from those episodes because it is being tight-lipped about better times due to the killing of Al-Qiada in Iraq Leader Al-Zarqawi.

They are taking a wait-see attitude on this one because they aren't yet sure of what it actually means for the war on terror. Here are a few of the scenarios on which they are looking.

If the power structure for the terror cell was concentrated in Al-Zarqawi and a few others, then the logistical, and financial means of Al- qaida in Iraq may cause it to implode.

There is also the chance that there will be an internal power-struggle amongst mid-level leaders. A civil war so to speak within the cell. This may also cause the terror cell to splinter into several smaller cells.

Whichever road Al-Qaida in Iraq travels will have ramnifications for President Bush and Republican leaders come the November Elections. It is too early to tell whether this will stem the tide of problems for the GOP or be another "Mission Accomplished" fiasco.

Culture of Corruption Platform not Working

Democrats are now in scramble mode for their current platform. In the wake of the Abramoff, Delay, and Cunningham scandals. Most had put the culture of corruption issue at the top of their platforms.

In Cunningham's district, Republican Brian Bilbray defeated Democrat Francine Busby to fill out the remainder of Cunningham's term. Busby ran on the culture of corruption issue.

Democrats and Republicans alike were looking at this district as a litmus test to judge their/ their opponent's strength's and weaknesses on the issue. If there were ever a district that could be susceptible to the corruption issue it would be California Congressional District 50.

Why didn't this issue take hold as much as the Democrats thought it would? Because it can't be used as a primary issue. As a candidate you need to campaign on what your plans are once you are in office. If your goal is accomplished just be being elected then voters won't vote you in.

The corruption issue is a supplementary issue. It is to be used in conjunction with a platform built on things that are to be worked towards while in office. While it will give them a nudge upward at the polls, and in some cases put them over the top, for the most part it will not be as strong of a topic as they felt it would be.

For Democratic party to become successful it must return to being the party of ideas rather than be the anti Bush/GOP Party.