Side by Side Comparisons

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know of any good, nonpartison sites/sources that compare the candidates' views on key issues? I did some googling, and found this one: http://obama-mccain.info/index-obama-mccain.php. I have no idea whether it is partisan or not, and there are some important gaps (e.g., apparently neither candidate has an opinion on the deficit?). I'm just wondering what else is out there. I listen to speeches, etc. But those are generally, (a) written by someone else; (b) intended to hype up the people listening; and (c) don't tend to give really specific views. Sure--everyone wants to stabilize the economy and have people get adequate health care, but HOW do they propose to do it?

If anyone knows of any good sources, please pass them on!

[Anonymous]

One of the best nonpartison website has always been The League of Women Voters. This is for both local and national elections. They ask the candidates the same identical questions and print their answers word for word without spin. Of course if candidates don't go into specifics, there isn't anything the can do about that.

Their current Q&A was for before the general primaries, so it includes candidates other than Obama & McCain. I have found in the past they will update it again prior to general election.

http://www.lwv.org/Election2008/index.html

[Anonymous]

This isn't side by side, but On the Issues provides a complete voting record history for both candidates' time in the Senate as well as position statements. It also locates each candidate on a matrix based on their votes in a wide range of key areas. Thus John McCain is a "populist-leaning conservative" while Barack Obama is a "hard-core liberal." It's a very useful tool. Here are the links:

http://www.ontheissues.org/Barack_Obama.htm
http://www.ontheissues.org/john_mccain.htm

[Anonymous]

I like realclearpolitics.com, and politico.com

[Anonymous]

I found this helpful

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26424187/