Rep.pin' It.

Out of sheer laziness I don't think I can analyze more than two candidates at a time. With the Democrats it was easy, it's been Obama-Clinton the whole time, with a little Edwards sprinkled in. But the Republicans...there hasn't been a clear frontrunner at any point. Giuliani put on a good show to start, made zero splash in Iowa since he pretty much told Iowa-ns to fuck off, likely for the fear that trying and failing there would kill his chances in New Hampshire and ultimately any shot at the nomination. So, there's still a chance for him apparently. There's Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts Mormon who stood a chance in Iowa, but is effectively finished as a result of his loss to Mike Huckabee. From what I'd read, a loss of 50% or more of the Christian Conservative vote would pretty much doom Romney. He lost 60% of it. Romney, out. Then there's Huckabee, whose partnership with Chuck Norris provides for some great Youtube clips. I'm losing motivation by the minute, so I'm just going to get right into it with Chuck, I mean Huck and Ruuuuuudy. Same +/- system applies.

Gov. Mike Huckabee
Republican (Born August 24, 1955) Executive, pastor
Iraq War Issues: Supports Bush's Iraq War troop surge. Source
(-)

Security/liberties: Source
(o)

Social Security: Maintain long-term solvency of Social Security and Medicare. (Aug 2001) Maintain federal funding of Social Services Block Grants. (Sep 1999) Source
(-)

Stem cell research: Opposes federally funded stem cell research. Source
(-)

Same sex issues: Respect gay couples but don't change institution of marriage. (Jan 2007) Signed legislation outlawing same-sex marriage in Arkansas. (Dec 2006) No civil unions; only one-man-one-woman marriage. (Nov 2002) Source
(-)

Trade issues: Governor Huckabee's record on trade is limited, but positive. In 2003, he pushed for free trade with Mexico, calling for a "strong market of the Americas" and supporting NAFTA (AP 10/03/03). In 2006, he signed an agreement between Arkansas and a South Korea trade group, calling for increased commerce between the southern state and South Korea (AP 06/23/06). Source
(+) I'll buy it.

Budget issues: He is a self-described fiscal conservative who favors a flat tax. However the CATO Institute in their Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors: 2006 gave Huckabee an "F". Source
(+) The flat tax sounds fair in theory, but the actual effects are different.

Business & labor issues: Source
(o) This guy doesn't take a stance on anything...

Abortion issues: Abortion should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered. Eliminate public funding for abortions and public funding of organizations that advocate or perform abortions Source
(-)

Capital punishment: Supports the death penalty. Source
(-)

Marijuana: Would not decriminalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Source
(-)

Gun control: Supports the positions of the NRA. Source
(-) This is getting ridiculous.

Minimum wage: As governor, he supported the $1.10-per-hour minimum wage increase as a safeguard against a proposed constitutional amendment that would have increased the minimum wage yearly for inflation. Source
(-) What a douche.

Health care: Supports the concept that the goverment should ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state funded care where necessary. Source
(-) I'm moving to Canada.

Prescription drugs: Source
(o)

Environmental issues: Source
(o)

Immigration issues: We shouldn't have amnesty where we just say, "Fine, everybody's good, we're going to let it go." We should have a process where people can pay the penalties, step up and accept responsibility for not being here legally. But here's the point. The objective is not to be punitive. The objective is to make things right. Right for us. Right for them. And what I have objected to in the past is when we are punishing the children for the laws that maybe their parents have broken. I do have a problem with that. Source Mostly supports amnesty/permanent legalization for illegal aliens. No know opinion on temporary legalization for illegal aiens as guestworkers Source
(+)

Education issues: Does not support government-funded vouchers to send their children to any participating school (public, private, religious). Source
(+)

+/- Total: -6
Looks like my conservative upbringing is not in line with the Conservative political view. What do you expect from an evangelical...

Ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Republican(Born May 28, 1944) Lawyer, businessman
War authorization: Has supported Bush's management of the war in Iraq from the start. Referring to McCaskill’s call to redeploy troops away from Iraq over the next two years, Giuliani said: “Giving your enemy the impression that you’re going to run away emboldens them.” Source
(+) At least there's consistancy. And if I don't give him props for what he did for New York I'll be labelled "unAmerican"

Security/liberties: Giuliani applauded [former Senator] Talent’s support for the Patriot Act and electronic surveillance of terror suspects. “Mob suspects and terrorists do not come walking into your office and confess,” he said. “You have to intrude. Source
(+) Interesting statement, assuming that it's even possible to pick out terror suspects without profiling, I'll buy it.

Social Security: He favors allowing some investment in private accounts. Source
(+) Not really sure what that means, but if it alleviates the pressure on us to pay for Social Security that we won't see...I'm all for it.

Stem cell research: Supports stem cell research. Source
(+) Good call.

Same sex issues: "Gays should be protected. I signed The Domestic Partnership Law in New York. But the way I'm portrayed by my opponents -- and I guess to drive people away from me -- is that I'm in favor of gay marriage. I am not." Larry King Show
(o) Eh, marriage is a religious institution. I'm not going to get hung up on semantics. Joint tax filing for all!!!

Trade issues:
(o) no trade i guess...

Budget issues: According to his campaign site, "Rudy Giuliani inherited a $2.3 billion dollar budget deficit and turned it into a multi-billion dollar surplus, while cutting taxes and delivering balanced budgets. He cut the number of full-time city workers by more than 20,000 – excluding teachers, firefighters, and police officers – while slowing the growth of government spending to below the rate of inflation."
(+) But what does that mean for multi billion dollar spending on a war? I guess he could cut that out and get back in the black.

Business & labor issues:
(+)

Abortion issues: Pro-choice.
(+)

Capital punishment: Supports death penalty.
(-)

Marijuana: Does not support legalization of marijuana.
(-)

Gun control: Favors gun control. "But I also understand the second amendment. I understand the right to bear arms. I think that a lot of these things have to be resolved on a state by state basis. And I used say often when I was the mayor, it's one thing for New York, it's something different for Texas." Larry King Show
(+) True. Crazy rednecks, at least the booze screws up their aim.

Minimum wage: Opposed increase in minimum wage. Source
(-)

Health care: The nation's current system of health care is "imperfect'' but a single-payer system, such as found in Europe and Canada, is not the way to improve it, according to Giuliani. "We (need to) build it based on private insurance, competition, markets,'' Giuliani said. Giuliani noted that even with the current "imperfect'' health care system stories of residents from Europe, Canada and other countries coming to the United States for state-of-the-art medical treatment are common but stories of American's traveling to other countries for medical treatment are rare at best. Source
(-)

Prescription drugs: Called for moratorium on prescription drug importation. "We should not contemplate opening our borders to threats to our medicine supply when in all other aspects we are searching for ways to tighten the security of our borders," Giuliani says in his report. Source
Environmental issues: As mayor of New York City, Giuliani's environmental record was mixed -- "pretty unremarkable, and at times dismal," said Ashok Gupta, chief energy economist for the New York City-based Natural Resources Defense Council. But he noted that Giuliani was "supportive" of the environmentally ambitious green-development projects of his close friend and colleague George Pataki, governor of New York. Source
(-)

Immigration issues: Supports amnesty/permanent legalization for illegal aliens and temporary legalization for illegal aiens as guestworkers Source
(+)

Education issues: Giuliani believes that every parent should have “the ability to send their child to the school of their choice, be it public, private, or parochial.” --Campaign website
(o) This is not taking a stand...

Before I even tally this up, I think Huckaboom is smoked. Sorry Chuck, please don't roundhouse kick me in the head...

+/- Total: +4

Well that's the end of my candidate selection. Looks like Obama-Giuliani would make things difficult for me. And who knows what these candidates are going to do to screw up their candidacy. Clearly by no means is this a perfect science. Counting cards is no guarantee that you'll win big in blackjack, and there's still plenty of time for me to become more jaded. At least now I (and you) have an idea of where I stand. If Chuck Norris ran for president I may have to change my analysis. I'll follow up in the next few weeks.