Letters to the Editor
-
The votes
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES WHO WERE IN CONGRESS IN 2002 WHO VOTED FOR THE WAR:
Joe Biden
Hillary Clinton
Chris Dodd
John Edwards
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES WHO WHERE IN CONGRESS IN 2002 WHO VOTED AGAINST THE WAR:
Dennis Kucinich
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES WHO DIDN'T VOTE EITHER WAY BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T IN CONGRESS:
Mike Gravel
Barack Obama
Bill Richardson
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES WHO WERE IN CONGRESS IN 2007 WHO VOTED FOR KYL-LIEBERMAN:
Hillary Clinton
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES WHO WERE IN CONGRESS IN 2007 WHO VOTED AGAINST KYL-LIEBERMAN:
Joe Biden
Chris Dodd
Dennis Kucinich (?)
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES WHO WERE IN CONGRESS IN 2007 WHO DIDN'T VOTE EITHER WAY:
Barack Obama
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES WHO DIDN'T VOTE EITHER WAY ON KYL-LIEBERMAN BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T IN CONGRESS:
John Edwards
Mike Gravel
Bill Richardson
What distinguishes Hillary from other candidates on these votes is (1) Hillary voted for Kyl-Lieberman (a non-binding resolution); and (2) Hillary has not repudiated her vote for the Iraq war.
Note that Obama has not committed himself on either issue in congressional voting.
On the basis of these two issues, then, we're really talking about a four-person race (if you accept the premise that voting the wrong way on either of the aforementioned is a disqualification):
Barack Obama* (with an asterisk because of his failure to vote on Kyl-Leiberman)
Bill Richardson*(with an asterisk because he has never had to vote either way on either issue)
Mike Gravel* (with an asteriks because he has never had to vote either way on either issue)
and Dennis Kucinich (who has an entirely clean bill of health because he has vote correctly both times)
If you want to discuss various executive powers issues that the candidates have voted on, please list them by name so that we can look at how those votes stack up.