Democratic
Presidential Candidates |
Hillary
Clinton |
New
York
Senator |
|
|
Born:
10-26-47, Chicago, Illinois.
Experience:
8 years as First Lady.
8 years United States Senator.
Books:
It Takes a Village.
Living History. |
|
Senator Hillary Clinton
has spent much of her adult life in politics.
At age 16 Hillary Rodham campaigned for
Republican presidential candidate Barry
Goldwater and was president of the Wellesley
College Chapter of the College Republicans.
In the late 60's she changed her point
of view and became a Democrat. She went
on to graduate from Yale Law School. She
joined the presidential impeachment inquiry
staff advising the Judiciary Committee
of the United States House of Representatives
during the Watergate Scandal. She married
Bill Clinton and eventually became Arkansas'
First Lady, but she continued to practice
law with the Rose Law Firm. In 1988 and
1991 the National Law Journal named Clinton
one of the 100 most influential lawyers
in America. In 1993 she became the nation's
first lady and was in charge of the failed
Clinton health care plan. In 2000 she
was elected to the United States Senate
from New York defeating Rick Lazzio 55.27%
to 43.01% and won reelection in a 2006
landslide. She voted for the Iraq War,
but currently stands for a major change
of course. Clinton currently serves on
the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
Hillary
Clinton
official web site |
|
John
Edwards |
Former
Senator |
|
|
Born:
06-10-53, Seneca, South Carolina.
Experience:
2004 Vice-presidential candidate.
6 years United States Senator.
Books:
Four Trials. |
|
Former Senator John Edwards
grew up in middle class North Carolina as
the "son of a mill worker". He
earned his law degree from the University
of North Carolina and became a personal
injury trial attorney. He represented families
and children, specializing in corporate
negligence and medical malpractice claims.
Edwards entered politics in 1998 after the
tragic death of his son and won election
to the U.S. Senate knocking off the incumbent
Republican, Senator Lauch Faircloth 51.2%
to 47.0%. Edwards served on the U.S. Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S.
Senate Committee on Judiciary. As a Senator,
he voted for the the Iraq War Resolution
and has recently admitted it was a mistake.
In 2000 Edwards ran for president and came
in second in the Iowa Caucus behind John
Kerry with a strong 32% of the vote. He
later dropped out and eventually was picked
by John Kerry as the Democratic Vice-Presidential
nominee.
John
Edwards official web site |
|
Joe
Biden |
Delaware
Senator |
|
|
Born:
11-20-42,
Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Experience:
3 New Castle County Council.
34
years United States Senator.
|
|
The experienced senator
has serves as the Foreign Relations Committee,
Chair. Biden ran for president in 1988
but withdrew when it was alleged that
he had failed a 1965 introductory law
school course on legal methodology due
to plagiarism. Little of the incident
is made of today. He was instrumental
in the U.S. involvement in the Balkans
in the 1990's. He is in known for calling
Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic a "war
criminal." He fought for lifting
the arms embargo, NATO air strikes, training
Bosnian Muslims and investigating war
crimes. Biden's "lift and strike"
resolution helped lead to President Bill
Clinton's use of military force to end
the conflict. Voted for the war though
his resolution with Republican Senator
Richard Lugar which authorized military
action only after all diplomatic efforts
had been exhausted failed to pass. Has
always argued we need more troops in Iraq,
but now says it may be too late and only
a political solution will work. Has spoke
often of the idea of partitioning Iraq
into the mostly-autonomist states of Iraq.
Joe
Biden official web site |
|
Barack
Obama |
Illinois
Senator |
|
|
Born:
06-06-61, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Experience:
6 years Illinois State Senate.
2 years United States Senator.
Books:
Dreams of my Father.
The Audacity of Hope. |
|
Senator Barrack Obama
has come from nowhere to establish himself
as a legitimate Democratic candidate for
president. His story includes a African
father who was born in Kenya and was a
goat herder and a Caucasian mother born
in the heartland, Wichita, Kansas. Both
parents were highly educated as is Obama
who graduated from Harvard Law School.
In fact, he gained national recognition
for becoming the first African American
to be elected president of the Harvard
Law Review. Before coming back to America,
Obama lived in Jakarta, Indonesia where
he attended Catholic and Muslim schools.
His father died in a car crash when Obama
was 21, and his mother died of cancer
in 1995.
Barack
Obama official web site |
|
Christopher
Dodd |
Senator
Connecticut |
|
|
Born:
05-27-44,
Willimantic, Connecticut
Experience:
6 Years United States Congress.
27
years Iowa State Senator.
|
|
He
graduated with a bachelor's degree
in English Literature from Providence
College, served in the Peace Corps
in the Dominican Republic where
he became fluent in Spanish. Dodd
also served in the U.S. Army Reserve,
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
from Connecticut's second congressional
district, Dodd was part of the "Watergate
class of '74". He was reelected
twice. He served on the House Select
Committee on Assassinations.
Dodd has severed in the Senate since
1980. He has served as General Chairman
of the Democratic National Committee.
Dodd voted in favor of the Iraq
War Resolution in 2002. He is now
against the war. He voted in the
Senate against continued funding
for the Iraq war.
Christopher
Dodd official web site
|
|
Bill
Richardson |
New
Mexico
Governor |
|
|
Born:
11-15-47,
Pasadena, California.
Experience:
15 years United States Congress.
1 year U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.
2 years Secretary of Energy.
5
years New Mexico Governor.
|
|
The
governor has a great resume with both
state governing and world political experience.
He brokered an agreement between President
al-Bashir and leaders of several rebel
factions in the Darfur region in Sudan
to a 60-day cease-fire, though it never
became materialized. Richardson has been
nominated four times for the Nobel Peace
Prize. He was selected by President Bill
Clinton to be Ambassador to the United
Nations and then the Secretary of Energy.
His tenure at Energy was tainted by the
Wen Ho Lee nuclear espionage scandal.
Richardson is the only Hispanic Governor
in the United States. As governor he passed
a broad personal income tax cut. He also
cut $230 million in bureaucratic waste
and invested in new opportunities for
New Mexico's children. He is a long shot
in Iowa, but is probably looking for a
vice-presidential nomination.
Bill
Richardson official web site
|
|
|
|
|
|
Republican
Presidential Candidates |
John
McCain |
Arizona
Senator |
|
|
Born:
08-29-36, Coco
Solo, Panama.
Experience:
4 years Arizona Congressman.
21 years United States Senator.
Books:
Character
Is Destiny. Why Courage Matters.
Worth the Fighting for. Faith of
My Fathers. |
|
Senator
John McCain's long political career came
after a military career that included
over 5 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
In 1982 he won a seat in Congress and
in 1986 he ran for the retired senate
seat of Barry Goldwater and won. McCain
was one of five senators involved in the
"Keating 5"savings and loan
scandal. Because of that McCain helped
write campaign finance reform and is the
biggest backer of further reform today.
McCain has announced that he supports
the inclusion of "intelligent design"
teaching in schools. In 2000 he ran for
president, skipped Iowa and then defeated
George W. Bush in the New Hampshire Primary,
but finally lost in South Carolina and
the nomination. McCain is a "Hawk"
and fully supports George Bush's policies
in Iraq, though he believes more troops
have been needed from the beginning.
John
McCain official web site |
|
Rudy
Giuliani |
Former
N. Y.
Mayor |
|
|
Born:
05-28-44, Brooklyn, New York.
Experience:
8 New York City Mayor. |
|
Former
New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani was best
known as a crime fighter before 9-11. Giuliani
indicted eleven organized crime figures,
including the heads of New York's "Five
Families," under the RICO Act. During
his term as mayor overall crime went down
57%, murder was reduced by 65%, and New
York City was recognized by the F.B.I. as
the safest large city in America for his
last five years. 9-11 put Giuliani on the
national map. His pose, managing skills
and leadership helped New York City continue
in a time of tragedy and disaster. He supports
the Bush administration's war in Iraq. He
is considered a social liberal, including
being pro-choice. Giuliani has no world
political experience.
Rudy
Giuliani official web site |
|
Mitt
Romney |
Frm.
Governor
Massachusetts |
|
|
Born:
03-12-47, Detroit, Michigan.
Experience:
VP Bain & Company.
Co-found
Bain Capital.
President & CEO of 2002 Olympic
Winter Games.
4
Years Massachusetts Governor. |
|
Romney
graduated from a joint JD/MBA program
coordinated between Harvard Law School
and Harvard Business School. After 10
years at Bain & Company Romney co-founded
Bain Capital, which quickly became a highly
successful private equity investment firm.
Romney returned to Bain & Company
as CEO in 1990, which was facing financial
collapse. In one year, he had led Bain
& Company through a highly successful
turnaround. In 1999 Romney was hired as
the new president and CEO of the troubled
Salt Lake City Games and brought the games
to a successful conclusion. After losing
in a senate race to Ted Kennedy in 1994
he ran for governor in the highly democratic
Massachusetts in 2002. As governor Romney
proposed and signed into law a private,
market-based reform that ensures every
Massachusetts citizen will have health
insurance, without a government takeover
and without raising taxes.
Mitt
Romney official web site |
|
Fred
Thompson |
Former
Ten.
Senator |
|
Born:
08-19-42, Sheffield, Alabama
Experience:
8 years United States Senator for
Tennesee.
|
|
Thompson's
political career started when he was appointed
minority counsel for the hearings surrounding
the Watergate scandal. He was responsible
for Howard Baker's asking "What did
the President know, and when did he know
it?"
Thompson
was a lobbyist for many years.Thompson
lobbied Congress on behalf of the Tennessee
Savings and Loan League to pass the St
Germain Depository Institutions Act of
1982, which deregulated the Savings and
Loan industry. A large congressional majority
and President Ronald Reagan supported
the act but it was said to be a factor
that led to the savings and loan crisis.
Thompson received one thousand six hundred
dollars for communicating with some congressional
staffers on this issue
In 1994, Thompson was
elected to finish the remaining two years
of Al Gore's U.S. Senate term after Gore
was elected Vice President. Thompson was
a member of the Council on Foreign Relations
and a Visiting Fellow with the American
Enterprise Institute, specializing in
national security and intelligence.
Fred
Thompson official web site |
|
Mike
Huckabee |
Frm.
Governor
Arkansas |
|
|
Born:
06-24-55, Hope, Arkansas.
Experience:
5 Years Arkansas Lt. Governor -
10 Years Governor.
Books:Character
is the Issue, Kids Who Kill, Living
Beyond Your Lifetime, Quit Dig-ging
Your Grave with a Knife and For
&, From Hope to Higher Ground. |
|
Huckabee
took over as governor when Jim Guy Tucker
resigned because of a felony conviction
and eventually went on to win 2 elections
in his own right. He signed legislation
creating ARKids, a health insurance program
designed to provide insurance to children
of families who could not qualify for
Medicaid but could not afford private
insurance. He rebuilt the states roads
and parks. He supports of creationism
and was a minister.
Mike
Huckabee official web site |
|
Ron
Paul |
Texas
Congressman |
|
Born:
08-20-35, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Experience:
19 years United States Congressmen
from Texas
|
|
Ron Paul received
his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1961. He
was drafted into the United States Air Force
during the Cuban Missile Crisis and remained
in the military during the early years of
the Vietnam War.
He advocates non-interventionist
foreign policy, and voted against the Iraq
War Resolution, but voted for the "Authorization
for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists",
passed by the United States Congress on
September 18, 2001. He favors withdrawal
from NATO and the United Nations; supports
free trade but rejects NAFTA as "managed
trade"; and opposes amnesty and birthright
citizenship for illegal aliens
Paul serves on the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, the Joint Economic
Committee and the Committee on Financial
Services.
Paul ran for president as
a Libertarian in 1988 getting 0.5% of the
vote.
Ron
Paul official web site |
|
|
|
|
|
