VoteGopher.com projects Barack Obama as the winner of the 2008 Presidential Election. All major networks have now called victories for the Illinois Senator in the crucial battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, in addition to a large number of other East Coast states where polls closed earlier in the evening.  Expected to carry Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, and California’s 55 electoral votes, Barack Obama can safely be considered the 44th President of the United States.  Obama will assume the presidency on January 20, 2009 and will become the country’s first African-American President.

As VoteGopher has explained throughout this election season, the U.S. can anticipate a variety of policy changes during an Obama presidency.  Obama has laid out an economic plan that would emphasize tax cuts for the middle class and higher taxes for Americans making over $250,000 a year.   His tax plan is part of a larger economic recovery effort that would include another stimulus package and expanded unemployment benefits.  Obama has also pledged to establish a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, and has indicated a willingness to more freely negotiate with foreign leaders.

Domestically, Obama envisions a reform of America’s healthcare system – specifically a subsidized, voluntary National Heath Plan for the uninsured.   Obama also supports a broad-based energy plan that would raise fuel economy standards, increase funding for a variety of alternative energy sources, and establish a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions.

Enacting these policies, however, will take more than just promises, and VoteGopher will continue to monitor the issues in the coming days, months, and years.  No matter what happens, we can expect an Obama administration to break sharply with the policies of the Bush Administration.

Check back later at VoteGopher.com for more updates.  Throughout the Obama transition and presidency, VoteGopher will compare the new president’s promises with results.

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The election is tomorrow, so here’s Part Three of VoteGopher’s final roundup on the candidates’ positions.  We’ve already covered social issues and foreign policy.  This post will explain McCain & Obama’s positions on domestic policy, and tomorrow morning we’ll cover the economy and taxes.  Get informed before you vote!

• Healthcare: The candidates have proposed sharply contrasting healthcare plans.  Obama’s plan would entail increasing regulation of the private market and a new public plan that people could choose to opt into.  Most people would likely continue with their employer-based health insurance, but Obama would create a watchdog group to prevent people from being denied insurance because of preexisting conditions.  McCain’s plan deregulates the market by replacing the tax exemption for employer-provided insurance with a general health care tax credit that people could use to purchase employer-based on private insurance.  He would also allow people to purchase insurance across state lines.  Healthcare is a complex issue, so get more important details on their plans here!
• Energy: McCain and Obama have very different approaches toward ending our dependence on foreign oil and reducing global warming.  McCain argues for increased domestic oil drilling and wants to subsidize the construction of 45 new nuclear plants.  Obama is proposing investing billions in renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency mandates on automobiles and electricity.  And while both candidates support cap-and-trade plans to reduce carbon emissions, their plans have several differences in the details.  Read more on Energy here!
  
• Education: Obama would increase federal education spending with new programs to fund voluntary universal preschool, to intervene in low-income communities nationwide, and to give college students a $4000 yearly tax credit for tuition aid.  McCain would keep spending on education the same, though he would redirect some existing spending with the goals of increasing local control of funds, allowing alternative certification of teachers, and supporting online education.  Both candidates say they support accountability, merit pay for teachers, and charter schools.  More here!

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Most discussion of foreign policy during this campaign has understandably focused on the Middle East.  So before you vote, you can review the candidates’ positions on our Iraq page, Middle East page, and Terrorism & Homeland Security page.  But there are many important regions that haven’t gotten as much attention, so here’s a look at some real differences between the candidates’ approaches in other parts of the world:

• Latin America: One main difference between the candidates on Latin America is that Obama is willing to meet with hostile foreign leaders without preconditions, but McCain would not meet with Cuban president Raul Castro or Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.  Second, McCain supports a proposed free trade deal with Columbia, and he has criticized Obama for opposing this.  Finally, a contrast on Cuba policy is that while both candidates would continue the embargo, Obama would soften policy to allow family travel and remittances to the country and McCain would not.
• Africa: Both McCain and Obama have said that the situation from Darfur requires more U.S. involvement, though neither has proposed military intervention.  On foreign aid, Obama has several proposals to partner with the private sector to create growth and jobs in the developing world, while McCain argues that we should do this by promoting free trade and ending agricultural subsidies.  Additionally, while both candidates have said that the process of foreign aid should be reformed to ensure its efficiency, Obama has pledged to double foreign aid and McCain has not.
• Russia: Both candidates harshly criticized Russia’s actions in Georgia, and both support admitting Georgia into NATO.  McCain has taken a harder line against Russia by proposing that Russia be removed from the G-8.  Additionally, McCain’s proposal to create a League of Democracy would intentionally exclude Russia from a new international body.

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Today we’ve rounded up links about economic redistribution and homelessness, and we’ve even brought you some funny political videos.  

• Economic Redistribution: In this post from the libertarian “lawblog” The Volokh Conspiracy, George Mason law professor David Bernstein analyzes 2001 interview where Obama dicusses the courts and economic redistribution.   Bernstein makes the point that universal healthcare or increasing student loan aid are examples of redistributing wealth, and asks if it is ’supposed to be a great revelation that Obama would like to see wealth more “fairly” distributed than it is currently?’  Read more here!
• Poverty: McClatchy has an interesting article about “the Bush administration’s radical, liberal — and successful — national campaign against chronic homelessness.”  This is an issue we don’t hear much about, but there’s apparently been a lot of progress in the last few years, so this article will get you up to speed.
• ComedySmack: On the lighter side, take a look at today’s politically-themed edition of Comedy Smack and enjoy the funny election videos they’ve posted.  Check it out here!

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Social issues have mostly taken a backseat in this campaign, but since the election is eight days away, here’s the information you need on where McCain and Obama stand.  Read on for more on abortion, gay rights, gun policy, and crime!

• Abortion: The next president will likely make many crucial decisions about abortion policy, since the Roe v. Wade decision that abortion is a fundamental constitutional right could likely be overturned with one new appointment to the Supreme Court.   Obama supports Roe and McCain says the decision should be overturned, though neither candidate has pledged to appoint only justices who agree with them.  Obama also supports a bill called the Freedom of Choice Act, which would make aspects of Roe v. Wade become federal law and would prevent states from limiting access to pre-viability abortion services.  Obama and Democratic Congressional leaders have pledged to pass this bill, and McCain opposes it.
• Gay Rights: Though neither candidate supports gay marriage, Obama supports national legislation guaranteeing legal recognition of gay unions.  McCain opposes such legislation, arguing instead that issues of gay marriage and civil unions should be left to the states.  On gays in the military, an issue where the president can act unilaterally without Congressional approval, Obama has pledged to end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and let gays serve openly.  McCain says that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has worked and that he would keep the policy in place.
• Gun Policy & Crime: Obama says he supports letting local areas decide their own policies on guns.  However, he supports reinstating the expired ban on assault weapon sales.  McCain would not ban assault weapons and would not restrict any sales of guns to law-abiding adults.  On crime, Obama supports most current federal drug laws, but he would reduce some federal drug sentencing laws and he would end the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.  McCain supports current federal drug laws, and he has not proposed any changes to them.

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In a campaign mostly focused on economic and foreign issues, education has often been overlooked.  McCain and Obama often use similar language to discuss the issue, but their positions are substantially different:

• Funding & Testing: Both candidates say they support increased “accountability” among schools, students, and teachers.  But Obama also argues for increased funding, and says that the No Child Left Behind bill “forces” schools to meet goals “without the resources they need.”  McCain does not support increasing federal aid to failing schools, and he believes that parents should be able to take their children out of those schools.
• Teacher Pay & Recruitment: Obama and McCain both support basing teacher pay partially on performance, and also giving bonuses to teachers at low-income schools.
• Vouchers & Charter Schools: Both candidates support encouraging charter schools, but McCain and Obama disagree on vouchers.  McCain says he supports the principles of “choice and competition” to improve schools, and Obama has argued that vouchers take resources away from public schools.  However, McCain has not proposed any nationwide voucher plan during this campaign.
• Other Public School Programs: Obama has proposed funding voluntary universal preschool nationwide, and he also supports expanding several programs to help ensure that disadvantaged children are prepared for school.  McCain has proposed increasing online schooling and allowing national certification of tutoring programs.
  
• College Affordability: Obama has proposed a new tax credit to cover $4000 of tuition for college students each year if they complete 100 hours of public service.  McCain has not argued for increasing federal student loan aid, but says that “grants and loans should be targeted towards those with genuine need.”

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For the first time, both presidential candidates agree that climate change is a serious problem and that we need to address the issue.  McCain and Obama both support a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions that will put a cap on the overall U.S. emissions level.  Under this system, permits will be required to emit carbon, and these permits will be sold or given away by the government.  But don’t think that this means there’s no difference on the environment.  In fact, the candidates’ cap-and-trade plans have three major differences that could prove extremely important:

• The cap: Obama’s cap on carbon emissions would be 80% below 1990 levels by the year 2050, while McCain would reduce emissions 60% below 1990 levels in that year.  Obama says that 80% is “the level recommended by top scientists to avoid calamitous impacts.”  However, both candidates agree on a short-term cap for reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
• Permit allocation: Obama’s plan would auction off all pollution permits to businesses, and would not give away permits to specific businesses or industries.  He says that this will ensure that “no business will be allowed to emit any greenhouse gases for free.”  McCain’s plan initially gives away emissions permits to specific sectors rather than auctioning them all out.  He says that starting off with many free permits would ease the transition for businesses, and that his plan would eventually auction off all permits.
• Offsets: McCain’s plan would allow unlimited purchases of domestic and international carbon offsets.  This would allow U.S. businesses to produce emissions without permits as long as they paid for offsets — equivalent emissions reductions from businesses not covered by cap-and-trade or in other countries.  Obama’s plan allows for “some” offsets “in the developing world,” but the candidate has not gone into more detail on how many or what kind of offsets he’d support.

Overall, Obama’s plan would likely go farther in reducing carbon emissions, but McCain’s plan would be less expensive to industry.  Read more on our Environment page and our Energy page!  And keep coming back to VoteGopher as we get you the facts on the candidates’ positions!

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The candidates begun the debate by sparring on the economy and taxes — check out our recent analysis of their plans here and here.  But read on for our fact check and analysis on the debate discussions of healthcare, abortion, and education.

• HEALTHCARE: The healthcare debate has been rife with distortions, and each candidate is guilty of misrepresenting his opponent’s plan.  Obama’s claim that 20 million people will lose their employer-provided healthcare under McCain’s plan is inflated.  The study Obama is referring to says that many of those 20 million will choose to leave their employer’s plan because they can find a better deal on the private market.  And McCain is misleading when he says that Obama will have “government decide” on people’s healthcare.  Under Obama’s plan, people will be able to keep their employer-provided insurance or choose a public plan.  What’s true in these attacks?  McCain does want to shift healthcare away from a system that favors employer-provided coverage, and Obama does want the government to have an increased regulatory role in the healthcare market.
• ABORTION: In the candidates’ first discussion of abortion so far, McCain called himself “proudly pro-life” and said that pro-lifers “have to change the culture of America.”  Obama said that women “are in the best position to make this decision,” but he also called for finding “common ground” between pro-choicers and pro-lifers to “prevent unintended pregnancies.”  Obama’s examples of how to do this were “appropriate education” for youths, “communicating that sexuality is sacred,” promoting adoption, and “helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby.”  McCain also argued for the importance of promoting adoption.
   
• EDUCATION: The candidates agreed on encouraging charter schools but strongly disagreed on the effectiveness of vouchers.  However, though McCain believes vouchers are effective, the candidates’ plans for vouchers are mostly the same, because McCain has no plan to expand vouchers outside of DC.  On teachers, the candidates mostly agreed — both said we need to reward good teachers but also increase teacher accountability.  And on federal funding for education, Obama proposed investing in “early childhood education, which closes the achievement gap,” while McCain argued that “spending more money isn’t always the answer.”  

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The final presidential debate is coming up tomorrow, and look for lots of discussion of the recent economic tumult. Both McCain and Obama support Treasury Secretary Paulson’s plan for the government to buy billions of dollars of stock in the largest U.S. banks.  But each candidate has also released a flurry of new economic proposals, so here’s VoteGopher’s roundup of the recent news on where McCain and Obama stand:

• Business tax cut: McCain has proposed to cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25% and argues that this will promote job creation.  Obama recently announced a corporate tax cut as well — a $3000 tax credit for each new employee in the U.S. a business hires over the next two years.
• Capital gains taxes: McCain wants to cut the capital gains tax for the next two years, as a way of stimulating the economy.  Obama has proposed to eliminate the capital gains tax entirely for start-up businesses only.
• 401(k)s and IRAs: McCain will suspend the rule that says that seniors must begin to withdraw money from these accounts when they reach a certain age.  Obama agrees with that proposal, and has also proposed to temporarily allow families to withdraw up to 15% of their holdings in these accounts without being penalized.
• Unemployment benefits: McCain has proposed eliminating taxes on these benefits.  Obama wants to extend these benefits for longer than six months.
• Bailout and mortgages: Both candidates supported the $700 billion bailout plan.  McCain proposed that the government should also buy troubled mortgages directly from homeowners at face value, but Obama disagrees with this idea — he says it would be too expensive and reward irresponsible lending.  Obama’s alternative proposal is to temporarily suspend bailed-out institutions from making foreclosures on homeowners “acting in good faith.”
• Other proposals: Obama supports another round of tax rebate checks for low- and middle-income workers, and he also has proposed a federal fund to steer money to states and local communities “at risk right now because of budget shortfalls.”  McCain supports guaranteeing all savings in U.S. banks for six months (currently a maximum of $250,000 in each account is guaranteed).

McCain and Obama will surely discuss these competing proposals at the final presidential debate tomorrow — so stay tuned for VoteGopher’s commentary on the debate!

Visit VoteGopher.com for more!

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Watch our video commentary, where we set the facts straight on the candidates’ tax plans!

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