The Iowa Winners and Choice
by Karina
Web Editor
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Action Fund
Happy Friday Everyone! I'm sure by now you've all heard the big news out of Iowa last night.... Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee won the Democratic and Republican caucuses respectively.
Mike Huckabee won the Iowa Republican Caucus by a huge margin, beating second place finisher, Mitt Romney by a 9-point margin. Obama beat the other two "frontrunners" by a margin of nearly 8 points.
So, let's take a second to look at both Obama and Huckabee's stances on Reproductive rights.
Huckabee:
Via on the issues:
* No states rights for moral issues like abortion. (Nov 2007)
* No tax funding for organizations that promote abortion. (Sep 2007)
* Led Arkansas to human life amendment in state constitution. (Sep 2007)
* Consensus impossible: pro-choice world fundamentally differs. (Jun 2007)
* Certainly good day for America when Roe v. Wade is repealed. (May 2007)
* Embryonic stem cell research creates life to end a life. (May 2007)
* Pro-life includes improving life after birth. (Jan 2007)
* Outlaw all abortions; err on the side of life. (Jan 2007)
* Pro-life and pro-death penalty, & sees them as far different. (Jan 2007)
* Even Americans who are pro-choice are pro-life. (Jan 2007)
* Eliminate public funding for abortion organizations. (Nov 2002)
* Supports woman's right-to-know legislation. (Jan 2001)
* Pro-life, but respects choice as mandated law. (Jan 2001)
Obama:
Via on the issues:
* Voted against banning partial birth abortion. (Oct 2007)
* Trust women to make own decisions on partial-birth abortion. (Apr 2007)
* Extend presumption of good faith to abortion protesters. (Oct 2006)
* Constitution is a living document; no strict constructionism. (Oct 2006)
* Protect a woman's right to choose. (May 2004)
* Supports Roe v. Wade. (Jul 1998)
* Voted NO on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions. (Jul 2006)
* Voted YES on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives. (Mar 2005)
* Rated 0% by the NRLC, indicating a pro-choice stance. (Dec 2006)
On this issue of choice, there is no comparison. Obama is vastly more Pro-Choice than Huckabee. But so what? There is no reason to necessarily focus on these two candidates this early in the game. The candidates that win the Iowa caucus don't necessarily have much influence on who will ultimately win each party's nomination. In recent history, neither Bill Clinton, nor George H.W. Bush won Iowa, yet both of them nevertheless went on to win the presidency.
So if you aren't a fan of Obama or Huckabee, you still have a chance to vote for the candidate you like best. So check out the presidential info section of our website and get an info index for all of the remaining candidates. How do those candidates stack up against Obama and Huckabee when it comes to choice? You can also check out Minnesota Public Radio's Candidate match quiz and find out what candidate best matches your views and opinions.
And don't worry, you have a little time...the Minnesota and North Dakota caucus/primary take place on February 5th, 2008, while the South Dakota primary doesn't occur till June 3rd, 2008.
Also, next week we'll have a podcast episode about additional election information resources. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast so that you get all the latest info you need to be an informed voter.
What do you think? Which candidate do you like and why?
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