John Edwards presidential candidate senator profile bio carolina

Name: John Edwards - Johnny Reid Edwards
Date Of Birth: June 10th, 1953
Hometown: Seneca, South Carolina
Political Party: Democrat

John Edwards has had life filled with trials, both legal, and personal. He was born in South Carolina on June 10th, 1953, but moved around a lot as a child, and landed in Robbins, North Carolina. While he was there he played football and was the first person in his family to get a college education. He met his wife at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and they have been married for 30 years.

When Edwards graduated college, he worked for a law firm in Nashville, Tennessee. After that he moved to Raleigh, North Carolina and he joined the law firm Tharrington, Smith and Hargrove. Edwards began seeing success in his practice and was considered the top plaintiff’s attorney in all of North Carolina. As a result he decided to open his own firm, which he did in 1993.

John Edwards began his political career by running for U.S. Senate in 1998. He won the election with a margin of over 80,000 votes. Shortly afterward, in 2000, he was the Democratic nominee for Al Gore’s potential picks for Vice President (which also included John Kerry and Joe Lieberman).

In September of 2003, Edwards decided to officially announce that he was going to run for the 2004 Democratic Presidential nomination.  Throughout his campaign for the nomination, he was one of the only real threats to Kerry, and did well until March 2nd, when Edwards ended his campaign for President. He withdrew from the race in North Carolina on March 3rd, 2004, but he did manage to become the running mate for Kerry. He has again entered the presidential race in 2008.

Political Views Summary:

John Edwards is dedicated to helping college students remain in school. He is pro-choice, and is against a constitutional amendment that bans same-sex marriage, but wants to leave that up to individual states.

He wants to seek to withdrawal the troops in the Middle East and believes a troop surge is foolish. He also believes that the government needs to seek more time investing in health care and education in order to keep kids from getting involved in crime.

One part of Edwards’ health care plan is laid out by requiring employers to either cover employees or pay a payroll tax that will be used to fund regional health insurance pools that are run by the government, and also making individuals purchase insurance from the health insurance pools.

Mitt Romney presidential candidate profile bio beliefs religion governor

Name: Willard Mitt Romney
Date of Birth: March 12th, 1947
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
Marital Status: Married to his High School sweetheart, Ann Romney
Religion: Christian – Mormon (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)

Career:

Romney’s primary career after college was working as a vice president of Bain and Company, Inc., a Boston-based management consulting firm that he left to start his own; he co-founded a firm called Bain Capital. He was the head of the company for 14 years, and were wildly successful. Bain Capital’s average annual internal return rate on realized investments was 113%. Their success came primarily from leveraged buyouts.

After great success with Bain Capital, Romney left to head the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee. Mitt was not the original CEO of the 2002 Olympics but was asked to come save a failing effort.  The 2002 Olympics were in terrible debt and behind schedule, but Mitt was able to successfully turn around the Olympics.  As of today, it is estimated that Mitt and his wife Ann are worth anywhere from 190 and 250 million dollars.

Political Career:

Mitt’s political career began in 1994 when he won the Massachusetts Republican Party’s nomination for United States Senate. Although he lost the election, Romney still sought after a government seat. After successfully leading the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics he then ran for Governor of the state of Massachusetts. The campaign proved successful, despite residency challenges due to his move to Salt Lake, Utah during his job with the Olympic Committee. Mitt was elected the 70th Governor of Massachusetts.

Achievements / Major Events:

Mitt Romney can be credited as the man who saved the 2002 Olympics in Salk Lake City. In 1999, the Olympics already had a 400 million dollar deficit, and many were beginning to think they would have to scale down the games so that they might take place. In February, Mitt entered the scene. He was hired as the CEO of the Organizing Committee, and he reformed the policies and managed to boost fundraising. Ultimately, the games profited 100 million dollars despite the previous shortcomings and new 300 million dollar security budget.

Platform or Opinions on Major issues:

Many individuals believe that Mitt Romney is wavering and does not have firm opinions because he has changed his stance on certain subjects. 

Gun Control

Romney has said that he is in support of the right to bear arms, and does not wish to hold this right captive as it is stated in the U.S. Constitution. Although this statement has been recently made, past campaigns have been brought up to show that he was, at one point, in support of moderate gun control, and the ban of semi-automatic weapons. Mitt continues to support this stance today.

 In 1994, Romney supported the Brady Bill, which gave a five-day wait on all gun sales, and also banned certain semi-automatic rifles. He also signed a 2004 institution of permanent ban on semi-automatic weapons.

He has stated in the past that he is not a fan of the National Rifle Association (NRA), and didn’t care if they were a fan of him. However, just before running for 2008 candidacy, Romney actually joined the NRA, and has since declared that he owns a gun, and goes hunting with his sons.

Abortion

Romney has stated and remains firm in the belief that abortion should be illegal in all cases except in cases such as rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is in jeopardy.

In a debate against Edward Kennedy (when Romney was running for Senate) in 1994, however, Romney stated that abortion should be legal but that it should be equally safe. Kennedy was surprised and asked that if abortion was wrong, that Romney might want to consider discouraging it.

Mitt Romney merely stated that his beliefs were his own, and that he wouldn’t force them on anyone else. Romney does not, however, wish to be known as a “pro-choice” politician, but in his 2002 race for governor, Romney felt that he wished to respect the choice of women, as it is a “deeply personal one.”

However, as of 2004, when in a meeting with the Havard Stem Cell Institute concluded, Romney felt that the value of life had been cheapened, and he wished to revoke his opinions as anything but “pro-choice.”

Since then, and in his Presidential campaign, Romney has made the stance of being pro-life just so long as the birth isn’t a cause of rape or incest, and that the life of the mother is not in danger.

National Security

Mitt Romney will continue in the War in Iraq as long as there is successful progress with America’s involvement. Although he has been quoted that the current problem has been in the management of the troops in Iraq, he believes in more troops in Iraq, and thinks that his management of the situation may prove successful if he is elected President of the United States.

Romney believes that America must strengthen the military by increasing the size of America’s military by 100,000 troops. He believes that America must transform the domestic civilian international efforts to meet the new generation of global challenges that the U.S. faces, and ensure our intelligence and law enforcement efforts are able to address these threats before they reach the U.S. shores.

He wishes to strengthen American troops, and defeat the violent threats of peace to all nations, not just America.

Drugs

Notably one of the stronger arguments Romney has faced is the legalizing of marijuana for medical reasons.

Romney believes that there needs to be a stronger “Just Say No” approach to drugs. He believes that medicinal drugs and marijuana is just another entry approach to getting kids hooked on drugs.

He has said to have great respect for the ability of American’s to market things to people, and wishes that they would take the same effort to effectively market a “No Drugs” policy to the kids and people around the country to not do drugs.

Health Care

Romney believes that there are significant changes that need to be made in America when it comes to health care insurance:

He wants health insurance more affordable.

• He wants to provide access to quality health insurance to every American.
• He wants to reduce the fear of losing insurance by losing their jobs.
• He wants to reduce the rate of spending of spending in health care.

*Notably: April 26, 2006 Mitt Romney signed the Massachusetts health reform law.  Mitt successfully championed this new law as the governor of Massachusetts that made Health Insurance available to everyone.

Taxes

As the Governor of Massechusetts, Romney lowered some taxes while eliminating certain tax loopholes and increased certain fees for services. 

*It must be noted that when Mitt assumed governorship the state was 1.2 billion in debt and in 2006, 1 year before the end of his term, the state had a 700 million surplus.

In 2007, Romney said that he was going to be eliminating the capital gains tax and since then, has stated that he favors removing any taxes related to capital gains for other investments on all families or individuals who make less than 200,000 dollars annually.

Education

Although Romney believes that parents and teachers have a partnership in the education of a child, and that the Federal government should rarely step in to tell schools how to teach kids, he does believe that it is good to have high standards, and to set goals high enough to encourage kids to live up to those standards.

Romney claims that, although he doesn’t wish to overstep boundaries in leading the Federal government in the education of children, there were some things as Governor that he learned did well with students.

• High standards.
• Encouraging youngsters to reach for those standards.
• Rewarding those who do well.
• Teaching kids how to speak English so that they can succeed in America.
• Give better teachers better pay.

When Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, it was the first state to ever have the highest scaled scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading and Math exams in Grades 4 and 8 within the same year. Romney thinks education is extremely important, and he wishes to see children succeed.

Rudy Giuliani presidential candidate profile beliefs bio career

Name: Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani
Date of Birth: May 28, 1944
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Marital Status: Married to Judith Giuliani
Religion: Roman Catholic

Education:

Giuliani attended New York University Law School and graduated cum laude.

Career:

After joining the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Rudy rocketed through to higher ranks, quickly becoming the Chief of the Narcotics Unit when he was 29.

In 1975, Rudy was called to work in Washington, D.C., and he was appointed Associate Deputy Attorney General and the chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General. In 1977, Rudy returned to his home, New York, to practice of law.

In 1983, Rudy became United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and he successfully fought organized crime, drug dealers and twisted officials. Some of his best known cases include the groundbreaking mafia prosecutions.

Rudy decided to run for Mayor. And in 1993, Rudy became the first Republican elected Mayor of the City of New York since 1965.

Political Career:

Since being elected Mayor of New York in 1993, over 70 percent of the population approved of Guiliani’s efforts, and Rudy was re-elected Mayor in 1997.

Giuliani couldn’t get enough of helping the country. Since he couldn’t run for a third election for Mayor of New York, he decided to run for United States’ Senate in 2000, but withdrew because of health reasons.

Although since that time, he hadn’t served in an official office, he had spoken on various occasions, and endorsed George W. Bush for his re-election. Rudy continued to be a politically active voice up until he began running for 2008 President of the United States.

 Major Events: 9/11 – September 11, 2001

Rudy Giuliani was mayor when New York was struck by one of the most heinous terrorist attacks of all time. He was a pivotal character in the regrouping and reforming of New York after chaos and confusion struck. But it marked a magnificent display of courage and strength in Giuliani.

 Major Platform or Opinions on Major issues:

• Gun Control

Giuliani strongly supports the Second Amendment. He’s in complete agreement that it is guaranteed by the Constitution that a man can keep and bear arms.

 However, it is believed that his personal beliefs may conflict with this amendment, as he has been a strong supporter of gun-control in urban areas or areas with higher crime rates. Some believe that this is a bad decision, because guns seem to be the best form of self-defense.

So as President, Giuliani believes that the Constitution allows for people to bear arms, but his personal convictions don’t always line up with that belief.

Abortion

While Giuliani’s personal convictions on abortions are clear: he disapproves, but he equally believes in the woman’s right to choose whether or not she can have the baby, or not, and thinks that it’s a personal decision, and shouldn’t be overthrown by the government.

He does, however, hope to ban partial-birth abortions unless the health of the mother is at stake. But he also is quoted saying that he wants to “increase adoptions, and decrease abortions.”

And he is in favor of abortions done with the notifications of parents, and is in favor of the ban on partial birth abortions.

National Security

Giuliani can be quoted saying that “I will keep America on offense in the Terrorists’ War on us.” He believes that remaining offensive to terrorist nations against the US will shorten the war on Terror, and will bring troops back faster.

He also says that “You face bullies, and tyrants, and terrorists with strength, not weakness.” He will strengthen the military, strengthen the intelligence, and will continue to be on the offensive on the war on Terror.

Giuliani is also in favor of “waterboarding” and strong interrogations. Waterboarding is a technique of coercion that simulates drowning in a controlled environment. Giuliani has said in the past that he "would tell the people who had to do the interrogation to use every method they could think of. It shouldn’t be torture, but every method they can think of."

Drugs

During Giuliani’s mayoralty, he was extremely harsh on cracking down on illegal drugs. He especially fought hard to imprison those in possession of marijuana. It is said that Giuliani will arrest, prosecute, and imprison those who use medicinal marijuana.

Health Care

In February of 2007, Giuliani said that he was against universal health care in America, and that it would mean a "socialization" of American medicine. He also stated that it is an appropriate role for the government to "find ways" to expand access to health insurance.

In an interview in 2006, Giuliani finally released his health care plan which proposed a tax deduction of up to $15,000 for families and up to $7,500 for individuals who purchase private individual health insurance policies

Taxes

Giuliani has cut taxes twenty three times in New York and turned what once was a $2 billion budget deficit to a multi-billion dollar surplus, all the while balancing the city’s budget.

New York City taxpayers reportedly saved more than $9 billion in taxes and had their lowest tax in many years, while the economy grew and city government saw its revenues increase from the lower tax rates. Rudy Giuliani believes in “supply-side economics,” because he saw it work.

Although, when questioned on social security, he said that he hated the idea to raise taxes, but did not rule out the possibility.

 Education

Giuliani is extremely concerned about the quality of life that is there for the children of America. He was, at one time, extremely disappointed with the New York Board of Education.

He is extremely supportive of school choice, and wishes to revive the public schools of today, and not completely do away with them. He would like to provide education vouchers for poorer families to afford getting into private schools to seek better educations.