“Imagine presidential candidate who supports a moratorium on trade with Ohio’s biggest recipient of exports. Or perhaps a candidate who is willing to spend in excess of $300 million tax dollars secretly each year is more appealing to voters. What about a candidate who supports actively pursuing democracy in Cuba while simultaneously vowing to remove troops immediately from Iraq, regardless of the consequences? Are these the qualities American’s are looking for in the next president? Ohioans voting today for either Democratic president are casting their ballot for exactly these qualities.”
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Imagine presidential candidate who supports a moratorium on trade with Ohio’s biggest recipient of exports. Or perhaps a candidate who is willing to spend in excess of $300 million tax dollars secretly each year is more appealing to voters. What about a candidate who supports actively pursuing democracy in Cuba while simultaneously vowing to remove troops immediately from Iraq, regardless of the consequences?

Are these the qualities American’s are looking for in the next president?

Ohioans voting today for either Democratic president are casting their ballot for exactly these qualities.

Nevertheless, one candidate does stand out in the search for the next president: John McCain.

McCain, the front-runner for the Republican party, has been serving this country his entire life. His political record concurs with his current ideas about fixing the economy and keeping our county safe. He has openly said he will hold the course in Iraq until it is safe to leave, continue free trade by maintaining NAFTA, and fight to keep taxpayers’ money from being spent on earmarks and political pork.

The senator from Arizona has always been concerned with the economy and political corruption. According to a non-partisan watchdog group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, McCain is one of only a few members in congress last year who has not supported or co-sponsored any earmarks to legislation (earmarks are a legislator’s pet-projects added to a appropriation bill to fund district projects). Often these earmarks are added after the bill is passed through the floor and behind closed doors in congressional committee meetings. In early 2006, McCain outlined ways to reform earmarks and told Congress that we’re not going to fix this system until we fix the earmarks.

According to the watchdog reports, Clinton is among the top ten senators to add earmarks in last years’ spending bills, totaling over $340 million in funding for her home state of New York. Barack Obama helped secure $91 million for his state of Illinois.

Likewise, both Democratic candidates have stated they do not like the way NAFTA is running. This is an especially hot topic in Ohio. Both candidates seem to be banking on the assumption that voters will not understand NAFTA and only vote based on emotion because of lost jobs and pension.

According to reports, Ohio’s top export markets last year were Canada and Mexico. This is odd, since both Obama and Clinton are saying NAFTA is the leading cause of Ohio’s failing economy.

McCain and economic experts has questioned the Democrats for their statements. According to McCain, should the U.S. make unilateral demands to NAFTA, there are going to be consequences beyond trade.

One of our priorities is to try to get more cooperation from our allies throughout the world, McCain said in a report Friday. This is especially important since Canada has now sent troops to Afghanistan to aid the war on terror, he added.

If voters feel the world already hates Americans, imagine how much U.S. public opinion would drop in the other countries on the continent if they had to halt trading while the U.S. made demands of these countries.

This brings up a final, and unpopular, point to McCain’s platform.

McCain has said he is willing to stay the course in Iraq no matter how long. However, the war could be over sooner rather than later. Reports from the Department of Defense last week said troop levels in Iraq are expected to drop to 100,000, down from 158,000, by the end of 2008. Yet this is not fast enough for either Obama or Clinton, who both support an immediate removal of troops. Further troubling is Sen. Obama’s recent statements in USA Today, which complain of a do-nothing policy towards Cuban democracy, while openly admitting he isn’t willing to do more for democracy in Iraq. Does this mean Obama only supports democracy in certain parts of the world? Maybe freedom should only exist where it can be achieved easily.

McCain understands the importance of staying to fight in Iraq in order to maintain stability in the Middle East and prevent terrorism from festering inside its weak borders.

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