In each election year (which happens every 4 years for those that don't know) a couple senators and other political types get together and argue about various issues. A few months (and hundreds of thousands of commercials later) all of us go poke a hole next to one of their names and when enough of us do that for one person he/she gets to be President for the next 4 years. That is what we guru's like to call an oversimplification. (Of course, I'll be doing a lot of that through these guides. So get used to it.) Now, the purpose of our guide today is to pluck out all those issues they talk about, find out what they really want to do during their 4 years in the big office with no corners for dogs to pee in, and let you know so that you can figure out whose family dog you are going to confuse.

In the 2008 Presidential election, things seem to be boiling down to one of two folks, Barack Obama and John McCain. These gentlemen have quite different perspectives on the same issues, and that is what we will be focusing on here.

There are, of course, hundreds of individual and specific issues that any given presidential candidate can respond that will affect each and every one of us. In the spirit of saving some serious time and energy for you and me, we will be covering the overview (summarized by me) of how each candidate feels about 10 "hot topic" issues. Those issues are:

• Abortion
  
• Death Penalty
  
• Education (Specifically the "No Child Left Behind" law)
  
• Homeland Security
  
• Immigration
  
• War in Iraq
  
• Universal Health-care
  
• Same-Sex Marriage
  
• The Environment/Energy
  
• The Economy
  

Now without further adoo let's look at each of the candidates individually...

A Bit of History

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. Born to a Kenyan father and Kansas-grown mother, his father left to return to Kenya when Barack was quite young. Spending a good portion of his young life in Hawaii (and a few years in Indonesia) he started college and graduated from Columbia University in New York in 1983. Shortly after college, Barack decided to move to Chicago and help the under-privileged. Finishing his law degree in 1991 from Harvard and working in the Illinois state senate, he was elected as the third African-American elected to the US Senate since Reconstruction.

The Issues

Abortion
Simply put, Barack firmly believes in a woman's right to choose. He has actively acted against attempts to overturn the decision of Roe v Wade where abortion was legalized in America.

Death Penalty
Barack is strongly, though not completely, against the death penalty. His efforts in Illinois law made some serious changes to the way the death penalty happened in Illinois. Though he has campaigned against the death penalty he also believes that there ARE some crimes (he uses examples of mass murder and the rape and murder of a child) that justify death as a punishment. He feels that laws should be passed to toughen punishment for crimes to discourage individuals from committing further crimes.

Education/No Child Left Behind
Barack considers the No Child Left Behind policy an "empty political slogan" that has done nothing realistic for students or teachers. He firmly supports teachers and wants to institute incentives for college students to consider being teachers, and for teachers to continue doing their jobs with adequate compensation. He would also like to create a $4,000 tax credit for college students that serve 100 hours of community service per year.

... more coming soon!

... More info coming soon!

... Coming soon!