Week 3 - Election Post

I think the race for the Senate is very important, so I decided to look into Mark Warner and Jim Gilmore. Mark Warner is the democratic candidate and has served as governor of Virginia from 2002 until January 2006. He believes in a new energy program that will invest in renewable energy and eliminates our dependence on foreign oil. Warner's stand on health care is to make sure every American has access to affordable, universal health care coverage– and 21st century health care must also emphasize prevention. On the war in Iraq, Warner's policy sounds a lot like Obama's, but with three important words inserted in the middle, "develop a responsible plan - without artificial timelines - to begin to bring our brave military men and women home from Iraq." I think Warner is a good choice for the Senate, and I hope he will be sitting in the Senate, supporting President Obama in 2009! On the other side of the ballet is Jim Gilmore, the republican candidate. He was the 68th Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and "since the expiration of his term of office, he has seen distinguished service on behalf of both his party and his country." I think the fact that Gilmore has been out of office will hurt him a little, giving Warner the advantage of coming right from the Governor's office. As for Gilmore's policies he hopes to decrease dependence on foreign oil by increased oil and gas production in the United States. He believes there is a need to implement tax reforms to will help people buy health insurance and encourage them to maintain health savings accounts. I feel the most important issue is clean energy and energy dependence. I think Warner's plan will work better for America because it has a long term solution that is good for the environment and will work with the national government to stop our dependence on foreign oil. Gilmore hopes to increase oil and gas production, domestic refinery capacity, and use of nuclear energy. This will help decrease our dependence on foreign oil, but not our dependence on oil. With our environment the way it is, politicians need to be addressing it in their energy plans, and I don't see Gilmore coming up with any ideas to stop Americans from polluting the environment and burning more fossil fuels than ever. In the polls that I have found, Warner seems to have the election in the bag, being over 20 points ahead!