2 0 1 2 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

1. 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

2. Presidential Candidates Barack Obama Mitt Romney Age:65 born in MI Age: 51 born in HI VP: Joe Biden VP: Paul Ryan

3. ECONOMY Obama Romney Cut Cap and Balance approach Heavy Investment in human capitol Raise VISA caps Cut Taxs • Make or break his campaign • Stimulus plan • Extend certain tax cuts • Reform Corporate Tax Codes

4. HEALTH CARE • ObamaCare • Will provide affordable health care to all US Citizens. • Aims to improve community health care centers. • Over 20.4 million women will gain access to new women's health care preventative services • Aims to make it easier for small businesses to provide coverage to workers by offering Tax Credits to employers who enroll their workers in private healthcare plans. • Ensure that all preventative care will be free on all insurance plans • Will cut the deficit by over a Trillion dollars over the next two decades • Mitt Romney- Health Care Reform • Plans to give each state the power to craft a health care reform plan that is best for its own citizens. • Limit federal standards and requirements on both private insurance and Medicaid coverage. • Ensure flexibility to help the uninsured, and the ill. • Prevent discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions who maintain continuous coverage. • End tax discrimination against the individual purchase of insurance. • Promote alternatives to "fee for service” • Allow consumers to purchase insurance across state lines.

5. IMMIGRATION Obama Romney Wants to create a long-term solution to immigration reform. Securing the borders by building a border fence as well as creating a pathway to citizenship for those who have served in the U.S. Military or for children who came here “through no fault of their own” "I believe that to protect legal immigration, we have to stop illegal immigration. And for that reason, I would in fact build a fence…”- Mitt Romney • Announced a Department of Homeland Security instruction halting deportation for young undocumented immigrants under the age of 30 • Obtained HS diploma/ GED or served in the military • Allowed the government to “focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people.” • "We have always drawn strength from being a nation of immigrants, as well as a nation of laws, and that's going to continue.”- Barack Obama

6. FOREIGN POLICY Obama Romney Wants to bring an “American Century” Similar to Obama All troops out by 2014 • Pursing Negotiaion • Hands off approach • Critisied for not supporting Israel

7. EDUCATION • Barack Obama • “Race to the Top” • Awarded States 4.35 Billion Dollars for implementing innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement. • Design and Implement Rigourous Standards and High-Quality Assesments • Attract and keep teachers • Support data systems that inform decisions and improve instructions • Use innovative and effective approaches to turn around struggling schools • Demonstrate and sustain education reform • Mitt Romney • “A Chance of Every Child” • K-12 Promoting Choice and Innovation • Allow low income and special needs students to choose which school they attend • Provide incentives to increase choices for parents • Build on success of Charter Schools and Digital Schools • Recruiting and rewarding great teachers • Eliminate Unnecessary certification requirements • Higher Education • Strengthen and simplify the financial aid system

8. ABORTION OBAMA • In favor of pro-choice initiatives, funding to clinics • Oppose Supreme Court Ruling • Banning the use of federal funds to pay for abortions except in cases of rape • Critizedfor“churchvs state” • ROMNEY • “Pro-life” as governor • Would not require churches to provide contraceptive • In MA, did not sign law on stem-cell research

9. SAME-SEX MARRIAGE OBAMA • In favor • Repealed, “Don’t ask, don’t tell” • At an ABC interview “At a certain point, I've just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” ROMNEY • Man and woman, added it was “up to the voters not the courts” • "This once again highlights the need for a Federal Marriage Amendment to protect the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman,"

10. Social Security/ Medicare/Medicaid • Barack Obama • Strengthen Retirement Savings • Reform Corporate Bankruptcy Laws to Protect Workers and Retirees. • Eliminate Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less Than $50,000. • Expand Retirement Savings Incentives for Working Families. • Prevent Age Discrimination. • Affordable Health Care • Provide Cheaper Prescription Drugs. • Protect and Strengthen Medicare. • Strengthen Long-Term Care Options. • Protect Seniors • Ensure Heating Assistance. • Supp.ortSenior Volunteer Efforts • Mitt Romney • No change for current seniors or those nearing retirement. • Existing spending is repackaged as a fixed-amount benefit to each senior that he or she can use to purchase an insurance plan. • Lower income seniors will receive more generous support to ensure that they can afford coverage; wealthier seniors will receive less support. • Competition among plans to provide high quality service while charging low premiums will hold costs down while also improving the quality of coverage enjoyed by seniors. • “Traditional” fee-for-service Medicare will be offered by the government as an insurance plan, meaning that seniors can purchase that form of coverage if they prefer it, however seniors will need to make up the difference in price.

11. Obama Romney GUN CONTROL • Stance is very vague and is often criticized because of that • In 2009, Obama signed into law a bill that allowed guns in National Parks. • Stressed importance of 2nd Amendment • "If you've got a riffle, you got a shotgun, you've got a gun in your house, I'm not taking it away," and pushed for "common-sense gun safety measures." • "I believe the majority of gun owners would agree ... that we should check someone's criminal record before they can check out a gun seller; that a mentally unbalanced individual should not be able to get his hands on a gun so easily," said the president." • In 2004, Governor Romney signed a state bill into law that banned assault weapons • In 2005, Romney also declared May 7th “Right to Bear Arms Day” in Massachusetts, seemingly confusing his initial stance. • Romney also said that if a federal assault weapons ban came across his desk, he would sign it – the same as President Bush

12. ENVIROMENT AND GLOBAL WARMING OBAMA • Rising energy cost, Obama’s 2008 campaign promised 5 million green jobs-May 2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 3.1 million jobs • Natural gas: New Federal restrictions on fracking on public land • Coal Industry: Eliminate lucrative federal subsidies ROMNEY • Supports additional drilling • Deregulate energy industries • Approve Keystone Pipeline • Energy Independence-more Nuclear power plants –special attention on research and development

13. Obama Romney WAR ON TERRORISM • Executed plan to kill Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden • Increased unmanned drones and increase special operations forces • America's elite Special Operation Forces will take a greater role in the fight in Afghanistan but their total numbers will not increase • "There's no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must --- and we will -- remain vigilant at home and abroad.”-- Obama on bin Laden • Withdrawing troops from Iraq & Set timeline for withdrawal in Afghanistan • Committed to stopping radical Islamists who seek to harm Americans • Iran is a serious threat to the United States • 4 years closer to nuclear bomb • Crtitical of President Obama for his “mishandling” of Israel and Iran • Not enough sanctions on Iran and too many rockets fired in and around Israel(Ally) • "What's needed is all the firmness, clarity and moral courage that we and our allies can gather. Sanctions must be enforced without exception, cutting off the regime's sources of wealth. Negotiations must secure full and unhindered access for inspections."

14. ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT Obama Romney Believe in less federal involvement Smaller Federal Work Force • Important role for people • Obamacare • Believes in people helping people