I should have written this post before, but looking back I realize I haven’t, and I might not have were it not for the prodding of a friend of mine who still stands to vote in the North Carolina primary this May. North Carolina is an interesting state to me, and not just because I used to live there: it combines long-term residents with a lot of newcomers, and I think could be a surprise blue state in 2008.
Anyhow, this friend of mine asked for links to look up information on the presidential candidates’ policy preferences, and I’m happy to send them on not just to him but to the big ol’ world. Apologies if you already knew this stuff months ago; I hope it’s useful for those who are looking for some new sources of information more substantive than what the TV news has to offer.
The first place to look is on each candidate’s website, where platforms are laid out to varying degrees.
Hillary Clinton:
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/
This is just a portal page; click through two layers’ worth to get to the nitty-gritty. Clinton’s proposals are by far the most detailed.
John McCain:
http://johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/
John McCain’s policy proposals are by far the least detailed.
Barack Obama:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
Of course, these are the presentations of the candidates’ idealized policy selves into the future. But what have the candidates done in the past? That’s a fair predictor for what they’ll do in the future. To get information on past political behavior, it’s handy to look into each candidate’s Senate Record on Thomas, the official Liberry of Congress record:
These are search pages on which it’s possible to choose Senator Clinton or Senator McCain or Senator Obama (after 2004) as a sponsor (principal author) or cosponsor (declared supporter) of legislation. Hit search and you’ll see a list of relevant bills. I suggest skipping the ones you’ll see at the top of the list for each Congress, which are S.Con.Reses and S.Reses, declarative statements that tend not to actually do much. The regular bills (S.117 etc.) are action bills that if passed would do something regarding the law of the land or appropriations.
A third place to look is in roll-call votes. When push came to shove and these three Senators were presented with policies in bill or amendment form that they either had to approve or disapprove of, which did they choose? (Or did they just slink off into a corner and not vote at all?) Check those votes out here on the U.S. Senate page. Unfortunately, the votes aren’t particularly well organized except by chronology and you kind of have to pick through these or already know which particular vote you want to find out about.
