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The Republican Horse Race
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Rasmussen Daily National Poll, December 1st 24% :: Rudy Giuliani 15% :: Mike Huckabee 14% :: Fred Thompson 13% :: John McCain 10% :: Mitt Romney 5% :: Ron Paul [/ QUOTE ] Rudy Giuliani has been an advocate of gun control and for federal funding of abortions. His campaign's main message is to continue the war on terror, and the war on drugs, at home and abroad. He's pro-immigration and linked to the NAFTA superhighway. Mike Huckabee wants the government to do a lot, paying for illegal immigrants' tuition, a federal ban on smoking, and supports all sorts of entitlements. He is very pro-life and pro-drug war and ran up taxes enormously as Governor of Arkansas. Huckabaee lacks donations, but is rising fast and has run his campaign very well. Fred Thompson's support of McCain-Feingold is questioned by 1st amendment rights advocates, but he is a strong supporter of 2nd amendment rights. Thompson best represents the views of the Republican party as a whole, and has moved his position on immigration to where the party is since he left the Senate. McCain supported the immigration reform bill that some have labeled amnesty, helped author the campaign finance reform bill that Thompson's support of is his biggest flaw as the Republican candidate. McCain has also supported gun control and been on the wrong side of the religious right. His campaign is bankrupt and there is no chance McCain wins the nomination with these issues. Romney ran a pro-choice campaign in Massachusetts, but claims by the time he was in office he wasn't keeping those promises anymore. Romney wants to clean up the ocean for its children, and he's taken an anti-1st amendment stance to help do it in television and video games. In Massachusetts he said that gun laws helped keep us safe, but his current position is unclear, as is everything with Mitt Romney. Paul seeks to pull out of Iraq, but is by far the most fiscally conservative candidate in the race. In addition to cutbacks in foreign policy, he seeks to eliminate as many government bureaucracies as Congress would allow. His pro-life, anti-immigration stances should appeal to the Republican base, though his seek to end the war on drugs will not. Thankfully for him, drugs are not on the mind of voters this election season. It looks to me like Thompson ought to be the uniting candidate in the Republican field, but his campaign has lost a lot of luster. He best represents the views of the party, but should he fail, Paul is the only candidate in position to represent them on domestic issues. His pro-peace position will be a stumbling block for some of the party, but Giuliani's shaky personal history and pro-choice position and Huckabee's pro-welfare positions, along with their pro-immigration positions may prove to be stumbling blocks just as large when trying to consolidate the GOP base. |
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