Where they stand

U.S. President

Home mortgage relief

Barack Obama

Ninety-day foreclosure moratorium for homeowners living in their homes

making good-faith efforts to pay mortgages.

John McCain

$300 billion to take bad mortgages off banks’ books and negotiate better

mortgage rates for homeowners

Taxes

Barack Obama

Businesses receive a $3,000 refundable tax credit for each additional

full-time worker hired.

John McCain

Increase the tax write-off for stock losses to $15,000 from $3,000 for tax

years 2008, 2009; reduce maximum tax rate on long-term capital gains

to 7.5 percent in 2009, 2010.

401(k), IRA retirement plans

Barack Obama

Supports suspending 401(k), IRA tax rules that force seniors to sell equities; favors allowing withdrawals of 15 percent up to $10,000 without normal 10 percent tax penalty in 2008, 2009.

John McCain

Suspend tax rules that force seniors to sell equities when they reach age 70 1/2; allow those over age 60 to withdraw up to $50,000 per year for 2008, 2009, to be taxed at only 10 percent.

Nuclear power

Barack Obama

Says security of nuclear fuel and waste, waste storage and proliferation must be addressed before more plants can be built.

John McCain

Says it's the best way to solve climate-change problems; wants 45 nuclear plants as soon as possible, with an eventual goal of 100

The deficit

Balancing the budget

Barack Obama

Vows he will not increase the deficit.

John McCain

Says he will balance budget by 2013.

Cutting spending

Barack Obama

Would require Congress to offset any new spending by

increasing taxes or cutting other programs; spending

cuts would save an estimated $144 billion.

John McCain

Would eliminate all earmarks, freeze discretionary

spending for a year and cut wasteful spending; cuts

would save an estimated $241 billion to $254 billion.

Still wants to spend

Barack Obama

Proposes spending on health care, energy development,

infrastructure repair and others.

John McCain

Would retain all tax cuts from Bush era and continue

with health care initiatives

Taxes

Estate tax

Barack Obama

Permanent estate tax; $3.5 million exemption, 45

percent rate.

John McCain

Permanent estate tax; $5 million exemption, 15 percent

rate.

New tax cuts

Barack Obama

Eliminate income tax for seniors making less than

$50,000 per year, increase college Hope credit.

John McCain

Reduce maximum corporate income tax rate from 35 to

25 percent, suspend federal gas tax for summer 2008.

Tax increases

Barack Obama

Raise income tax, payroll tax rates on personal incomes

of $250,000 and higher.

John McCain

Eliminate oil and gas loopholes.

Energy

Dependence on foreign oil

Barack Obama

Reduce oil consumption by at least 35 percent by 2030

via fuel efficiency, biofuels, investing in new vehicle

technologies.

John McCain

Cap and trade emissions program to help cut dependence;

send correct signals to market to move beyond

fossil fuel dependence.

Technology investment

Barack Obama

$150 billion over 10 years to fund transition to digital

electricity grid, low-emission coal plants, other projects.

John McCain

Revise federal research funding and bureaucracy to

develop new emission reduction technologies; streamline

process to deploy new technology.

Vehicle fuel efficiency

Barack Obama

Double fuel economy standards within 18 years; retool

tax credits, loan guarantees so fuel-efficient cars can be

built in U.S.

John McCain

Supports Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards;

penalties must compel production of fuel-efficient cars.

Foreign policy

Rogue regimes

Barack Obama

Would be willing to meet with leaders of rogue regimes.

John McCain

Has suggested using military force to deal with nuclear

programs in Iran and North Korea.

World trade

Barack Obama

Says free trade agreements need protections for the

environment and for workers.

John McCain

Supported NAFTA, CAFTA; favors the pending free

trade deals with South Korea and Colombia.

Russia

Barack Obama

Criticized Russia’s invasion of Georgia; wants to help

Russia secure its nuclear stockpiles to keep them away

from terrorists.

John McCain

Wants Russia excluded from the Group of 8 nations;

says a U.S. missile defense system should be built in

Europe even if Russia objects.

Iraq

Barack Obama

Opposed the invasion and the surge, says the surge

has worked; on taking office, will order plans for a

“responsible and phased” troop withdrawal over 16

months, along with aggressive initiatives to promote

ethnic reconciliation.

John McCain

Claims “victory ... is finally in sight”; against a timetable

for ending U.S. occupation, warning Iraq would

become a “failed” state where al-Qaida would gain safe

haven.

Afghanistan

Barack Obama

Afghanistan is “the war we have to win”; would send

thousands more troops; won’t tolerate a terrorist sanctuary

in a nuclear-armed Pakistan, implying he’d send in

U.S. troops if needed.

John McCain

Backtracked from proposal to divert 14,000 troops from

Iraq, saying he would press NATO allies to provide

some of the forces and equipment; will appoint White

House “czar” to oversee plan to double Afghan army.

Iran

Barack Obama

Would hold direct talks, offer Iran political and economic

incentives to halt nuclear program; would push for

tougher U.N. sanctions if it refuses; won’t rule out use of

force, but would use all diplomatic efforts first.

John McCain

Calls Iran “world’s chief sponsor of terrorism”; says if it

had nuclear weapons, would be “a danger we cannot

allow”; rules out direct talks, won’t rule out force.

Immigration

Path to citizenship

Barack Obama

Allow illegal immigrants to apply if they pay a fine, learn

English and don’t have a criminal record.

John McCain

Allow illegal immigrants to apply if they pay a fine,

learn English and don’t have a criminal record.

Visas

Barack Obama

Backs increasing number of visas to “keep families

together and meet demand for jobs.”

John McCain

Backs more “guest-worker visas.”

Priorities

Barack Obama

Comprehensive reform will be “one of my priorities on

my first day.”

John McCain

Wants secure borders first, then will focus on comprehensive

reform.

Pork spending

Spending

Barack Obama

Opposes an across-the-board freeze, but wants to

enforce pay-as-you-go rules that would require Congress

to pay for any new spending.

John McCain

One-year freeze on discretionary spending (except

defense and veterans); after Iraq and Afghanistan wars

end, use savings to reduce deficit.

Earmarks

Barack Obama

Introduced legislation to require more disclosure of

earmarks; wants to cut earmark spending to 1994

levels; has suspended all earmark requests after

proposing 53 last year for projects totaling more than

$97 million.

John McCain

Promises to veto any spending bill containing an

earmark; one of five senators who did not request any

earmarks last year.

Global warming

Mandatory cap and trade system

Barack Obama

Has same 2020 goal as McCain, but calls for an 80

percent reduction from 1990 emissions levels by 2050.

John McCain

Reduce greenhouse emissions to 1990 levels by 2020;

a 60 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2050.

Cutting emissions from coal burning

Barack Obama

Wants to spend $150 billion on clean energy over 10

years; would create a program to transfer clean technologies,

including those for coal burning, to developing

countries.

John McCain

Would invest $2 billion per year for 15 years to find

ways to permanently store greenhouse gas

emissions from burning coal.

Urban issues

Affordable housing

Barack Obama

Trust fund to develop housing in mixed-income neighborhoods.

John McCain

Would rely on private sector rather than government

subsidy.

School vouchers

Barack Obama

Backs charter school funding in states that have greater

accountability for those schools.

John McCain

Vouchers would give poor parents greater choice

about where to educate their children.

Who else is running

More than 20 candidates besides John McCain and Barack Obama are

running for U.S. president.

The top third-party candidates:

Cynthia McKinney

Green Party

Running mate

Rosa Clemente

On ballot

31 states

Issues: Full employment,

environmental protection,

end war on drugs

Bob Barr

Libertarian Party

Running mate

Wayne A. Root

On ballot

45 states

Issues: Repeal income

tax, cut defense spending by half, no trade barriers

Chuck Baldwin

Constitution Party

Running mate

Darrell Castle

On ballot

37 states

Issues: Close borders,

tariffs on all imports, end

foreign aid and income tax

Ralph Nader

Independent

Running mate

Matt Gonzalez

On ballot

45 states

Issues: Single-payer

health insurance, cut

defense, go after Wall

Street speculators

U.S. Senate

Financial crisis

Lamar Alexander

Supported a bill that created a tax credit for first-time home buyers, required

more disclosure to borrowers before they sign a mortgage, and helped

homeowners refinance delinquent mortgages.

Bob Tuke

Pledges to work to ensure sensible and effective regulations to protect taxpayers

and consumers from the greed and corruption that he says have plagued

Wall Street under President Bush and Sen. Lamar Alexander.

Abortion

Lamar Alexander

Is pro-life, says he has a deep and abiding respect for life in all of its forms.

Supports adoption as an alternative to abortion and encourages efforts to make

adopting a child easier.

Bob Tuke

Supports a woman’s right to choose; stands with the Democrats for Life of

America favoring the Pregnant Women Support Act that aims to reduce the

number of abortions in the United States.

U.S. House District 3

Financial crisis

Zach Wamp

Voted for the $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan after initially voting “no,”

saying he decided that doing nothing about the credit crunch would do more

harm to the economy.

Doug Vandagriff

Says he would have voted against the $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan,

calling it a bailout of special interests and an excessive expansion of federal

government.

Energy

Zach Wamp

Has pushed for “all of the above” solutions, including increased oil drilling,

alternative fuels investment and incentives for conservation.

Doug Vandagriff

Says he would support increased oil drilling to reduce the country’s dependence

on foreign oil.