Barack Obama

Barack Obama is a junior senator from Illinois whose campaign has focused on Hope and Change. While he has faced criticism for not having specifics to back up his rhetoric, Obama’s dynamic style and passion for his cause has garnered much support among young people and the minority community.

Healthcare: Obama will create a national health insurance plan based off the plan offered to members of congress. He will allow those currently enrolled in employee plans to continue using the health insurance they have while working to make those plans more affordable. Obama will also ensure that no one is turned away because of illness or pre-existing conditions. Employers who do not provide insurance to their employees will be required to pay into the national plan. Obama will increase transparency in medical costs, provide incentives for excellence in patient care and increase focus on disease management and preventative medicine.

Social Security: Obama has spoken publicly against privatization of social security and worked to make employers live up to their promises on employee pensions. He will reform payroll tax to make it fair for workers in all income brackets and maintain honesty and openness regarding the solvency of the social security fund as well as proposed reforms. He will not raise the retirement age, will work to strengthen healthcare programs and heating assistance for seniors and will not use Social Security funds to pay for other government programs.

Education: Obama believes No Child Left Behind was an unfunded mandate that did not live up to its promises to improve education in America. He believes in the values of universal pre-school and will provide grants to states trying to implement it. Obama will take the emphasis off standardized tests and focus on accountability and readiness for college. He believes opportunities in science and math is vital to success in the modern world. He will simplify the college financial aid and create a college tax credit. Obama will reduce subsidies given to student loan companies and use the money saved to increase federal aid. He also supports scholarships for any college student willing to engage in service in the community.

Environment: Obama has called climate change one of the great moral issues of our time and has fought in the senate to increase funding for alternative fuels. He supports a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions. Obama will address deforestation and work to restore natural areas that capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Profits from the cap-and-trade program will fund green job training initiatives. Obama will require 25 percent renewable energy by 2025.

Obama’s Delegate Count after the South Carolina Primaries: 63

Hilary Clinton

Hillary Clinton, best known as the former first lady during the presidency of Bill Clinton, currently serves as the Junior U.S. senator from New York. She has consistently presented herself as an advocate for children, families and healthcare, garnering both praise and criticism for her 1993 attempts to overhaul the U.S. health insurance industry.

Healthcare: Hillary Clinton would enact a healthcare plan to cover all Americans. She will allow those already covered to stay with their current plans, while providing public plans for the uninsured. Consumers will have the option of choosing from one of the plans already available to members of congress or a plan like Medicare. She will not allow insurance companies to deny coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions.

Social Security: Clinton supports retirement savings accounts and tax cuts for those investing in such accounts. She believes her plan would allow more Americans to save for their retirement while not creating additional government beauracracy. Only Americans depositing money in the accounts would receive retirement tax cuts.

Education: Clinton cites her work with the Children’s Defense Fund and successful education reforms in Arkansas as proof she can turn around education as president. She supported funding to implement No Child Left Behind, and now advocates ending it altogether. Clinton would create intervention programs for at-risk youth in order to cut the drop-out rate in half. She would create a college tax credit, increase the amount of Pell Grants and more than double the amount of money available to students participating in AmeriCorps.

Environment: Clinton’s energy initiatives focus on a cap-and-trade carbon emissions programs as well as reducing greenhouse gasses 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. She will create a Strategic Energy Fund to invest in new energy technology and ask for the support of auto industry to increase fuel efficiency. She will create a National Energy Council in the executive branch and work to build zero emissions federal buildings.

Clinton’s Delegate Count after the South Carolina Primaries:
48

John Edwards *** DROPPED OUT ***

John Edwards is a former senator from North Carolina as well as the former running mate of John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. He is running on the platform of fighting for America’s middle class. Edwards has gathered support from many of America’s top economists as well as a multitude of labor unions. His policies reflect his upbringing in a working family.

Healthcare: John Edwards believes in a healthcare system in which all families receive affordable healthcare. Families who have insurance will pay less as well as have more security in keeping that insurance. He also believes in companies insuring their employees and making it easier and cheaper to do so.

Social Security: John Edwards believes in matching accounts for workers who receive social security. He believes that diverting payroll taxes to private accounts would hurt the people who receive social security and those who will eventually be on Social Security.

Education: Edwards plans to raise the pay for inner city school teachers by as much as $15,000 a year. He wants to start a national university for teachers to raise standards for teachers and improve the public education system.

Environment: Edwards proposes capping greenhouse gas pollution by 2010 as well as reducing all greenhouse pollution by 80% by 2050. He also proposes a climate treaty in which to help developing nations reduce their pollution as well as developed nations reduce their pollution over all.

All information compiled by Trevor Jones, Casey Jean Chapman and Cate Kempf.