Barack Obama:
Barack Obama has experienced an extensive political career, however it may be considered diminutive when compared to other eligible candidates. He served in the Illinois State Senate for eight years, managing to create the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which assisted lowering working families’ tax cuts; supported early childhood education; and made videotaping interrogations and confessions a requirement in capital cases against criminals on death row. Allowing every single American citizen to log onto the Internet and find all of the details of how their tax dollars were used was Obama’s first passed law in the U.S. Senate, aiming to diminish the growing skepticism surrounding today’s government. As a former member of the Ilinois State Senate and a current member of the U.S. Senate, he has been exposed to working with both Republican and Democratic views.
Senator Obama’s personal understanding of family has led him to be able to connect with the majority of families in modern America. He was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the son of Ann Dunham from Wichita, Kansas, and Barack Obama Senior from Kenya. The two met as students at the University of Hawaii. His parents divorced when Barack Obama Junior was two years old and was raised by his mother, a single parent. He moved to Indonesia in 1967, only to move back to Hawaii after four years and live with his mother’s parents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham. He then moved back in with his mother. He only reunited with his father once after his parents divorce, in 1971. In 1982, his father died in a car accident and in 1995, his mother died of ovarian cancer.
John McCain:
John McCain’s past was extremely militarily based, which may lead voters to support him for his leadership. He was born on August 29, 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone at Coco Solo Naval Air Station. As a child, he constantly moved between naval bases in assorted countries. He graduated from Episcopal high school in Alexandria, Virginia in 1954. He then went on to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, graduating fifth from the top of his class in 1958. He graduated from flight school in 1960. McCain volunteered to fly bombing runs in North Vietnam. 134 men were killed by the explosions from when his A-4 Skyhawk plane was accidentally shot with a missile on the USS Forestral on July 29, 1967. During his twenty-third mission on October 26, 1967, he was shot down and broke both arms and one leg. He captured and relocated to Hoa Loa prison, also called the “Hanoi Hilton” on December 9, 1969. He was in captivity for five and a half years, more than half of the duration spent in solitary confinement, and during all of which he was continually beaten and tortured. He was released on March 14, 1973, along with other American POWs. He has earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross
McCain’s knowledge of politics may not be as broad as his experience in the military, but it is still considered, by many, enough to be the president of the United States. His political career first began when he was elected from Arizona to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, a position where he fought for reforming Washington, stopping excessive government spending and supporting America’s armed forces. These views led him to being elected to the United States Senate four years later, where he set out to repair the system in Washington. He was reelected with almost 77% of voters.
Joe Biden:
Joeseph Robinette Biden Junior has had many experiences with family during his life, but it is not as much of a focus as some of the other candidates’ families are. He was born on November 20, 1942 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His parents were Joeseph Senior and Jean Biden and he was their first out of four children. He moved, with his family, to Claymont, Delaware in 1953. His grandfather was a state senator in Pennsylvania. He married Neilia Hunter on August 27, 1966 while still in law school. He then had three children: Joeseph R. “Beau” Biden III, Robert Hunter and Naomi Christina. In 1970, his first wife and daughter were killed in a car accident that also injured both of his sons. He traveled to Washington from his sons’ hospital everyday by train. Then, in 1977, Senator Biden married his second wife, Jill Jacobs. She holds a PhD in education and has taught in Delaware’s schools for over 20 years. She is currently teaching at Delaware Technical Community College. Biden now has three children: Beau, Hunter and Ashley. Beau is currently an Attorney General in Delaware and is going to Iraq this October. Hunter is an attorney and Ashley is a social worker. He now has five grandchildren: Naomi, Finnegan, Roberta Mabel, Natalie and Robert Hunter.
He has a strong political past. In 1970, he ran for New Castle County Council, at age 27, and won as a Democrat in a Republican district. He then campaigned against Caleb Bogg, who was prepared to retire, for a seat in the Senate and with his sister as his campaign manager and basically no money, he somehow managed to win by 3,162 votes on November 7, 1972.
Sarah Palin:
Sarah Palin has reached many of her goals to improve her state since becoming the eleventh governor of Alaska. She has improved the system in Alaska, and during her term as governor, the state saved $5 billion, education funding was raised and the Senior Benefits Program was modified to help more senior citizens with low-income rates. She has also started Alaska’s Petroleum Systems Integrity Office in order to keep track of the oil and gas companies’ equipment, facilities, etc. as well as the Climate Change Subcabinet, an organization formed to create a plan to recover Alaska’s decomposing environment. She reorganized the priorities and ethics of her state, which have become the law since her first legislative session. She proposed a gas pipeline, which has turned into the construction of a natural gas pipeline that is worth around $40 billion dollars. She is against wasteful spending - like her running mate, John McCain, - and cut about half a billion dollars of it. She also fired her personal chef and driver as well as sold the state’s private jet.
Her family is a big part of her life, but many believe that it may be an obstacle if she does, in fact, reach the White House. She first moved to Alaska first in 1964 with her parents. Governor Palin went to Wasilla High School and graduated in 1982. She attended the University of Idaho and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism in 1987. She moved around in Alaska between towns including Skagway, Eagle River and Wasilla. Her husband, whom she met in high school, is a commercial fisherman as well as a world champion snow machine racer. They have been married for a little over 20 years. Together they have five children: Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig. September 11, 2007, Track enlisted in the army and is scheduled to be sent to Iraq.
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