HILLARY CLINTON

Hillary Clinton - Hillary Rodham Clinton was born in Chicago in 1947 and soon became active in social causes. She involved herself with several child advocacy groups while attending Wellesley College and Yale Law School. After graduating, she accepted a year of post-doctoral study at the Yale Child Study Center and served as a staff attorney for the Children's Defense Fund. In 1975, she married Bill Clinton and moved to Arkansas, where she joined a prestigious law firm specializing in intellectual property and continued to work in child advocacy pro-bono. She organized a group called the "Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families" and was appointed by then-President Carter to the board of the LSC, a non-profit providing legal aid to indigent parties in civil cases. As her husband won elections making him Governor and later President, Hillary Clinton used her increasing political influence to further the causes of women and children. In 2000, she captured New York's vacant Senate seat, starting her own political career.

Hillary Clinton enters the 2008 campaign as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination and is in the nascent stages of releasing her policy initiatives. She is considering methods for extending health insurance to the many uninsured Americans and will soon propose a plan for universal coverage. However, unlike Obama, she stresses that this may take two terms. Senator Clinton wants to establish a Strategic Energy Fund from taxes on the oil industry to subsidize new research into alternative energy options and to help pay for hybrid and diesel tax credits. She supports the implementation of many of the recommendations of the 9-11 commission regarding domestic security and, despite her now infamous vote authorizing the use of force in Iraq, Hillary shares the view of every Democratic candidate that the US occupation of Iraq must be brought to a swift and enduring end.

JOHN EDWARDS

John Edwards entered public service in 1998, leaving a distinguished career as a trial lawyer to represent North Carolina in the United States Senate. A lifelong product of Carolina public schools, John became the first person in his family to attend college, graduating from North Carolina State and earning his law degree from the University of North Carolina in 1977. Early in his first term, John Edwards was seen as a rising star within the Democratic party and in 2003 he vacated his seat to make his first pass at the presidency. After John Kerry won the Democratic nomination, Edwards was selected as his running mate. Despite vigorous campaigning by Edwards, Republicans turned the situation to their advantage in 2004 when they won both North Carolina's electoral votes and its open Senate seat. Anticipating another run, Edwards decided not to return to private practice and instead traversed the country speaking out on behalf of America's poor. He has also supported his wife, Elizabeth, through her battles with cancer.

On Dec 28th of last year, John Edwards stood on the back lawn of a flood ravaged house in New Orleans and officially declared his intention to run for the presidency in 2008. His renewed campaign has focused primarily on domestic issues, principally the causes and symptoms of poverty in the United States. John Edwards was one of the first candidates to release his plan for universal health care, a plan that includes measures to reduce the costs of health care, creates "regional health care markets" and mandates universal participation in some form of coverage. On trade and globalization, Edwards is willing to compromise the principles of free trade to ensure environmental and labor protections. More fundamentally, he believes that globalization must not be allowed to increase the disparity between the "haves" and the "have nots." Like all Democratic candidates, he now believes the war in Iraq must be brought to an immediate end, and Edwards has stated publicly that his vote in the Senate to authorize the war was a mistake.

JOE BIDEN

Joe Biden was born November 20th, 1942, the first of four siblings in an Irish-Catholic Family. As a child, he would recite poems in front of a mirror for hours to overcome his debilitating stutter. In 1972, at the age of 29, Joe Biden became one of the youngest people ever elected to the US Senate, defeating Delaware's Republican incumbent. Immediately following his victory, his first wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. For the next five years, Biden raised his remaining children as a single parent, commuting from Washington to Delaware every night while the Senate was in session. In 1977 he married his current wife, Jill, and together they have a daughter.

For over 30 years, Joe Biden has been a fixture in national politics, campaigning tirelessly for Democratic causes. Like all other Democratic candidates, Joe Biden believes that our occupation of Iraq must end immediately and that we must tie our reconstruction assistance to a continual protection of minority rights. His plan goes further, offering a political solution creating three autonomous ethnic regions governed by a strong but limited central government. In this setup, Sunni Arabs would be guaranteed 20% of present and future oil revenues to ensure their viability. Closer to home, Joe Biden believes we can continue to lead the world economy, but only if we free ourselves from the volatility of the world oil market and alleviate the oppressive burden of health care costs on American businesses.

BILL RICHARDSON

Born November 15, 1947 in Pasadena, California to an American father and Mexican mother, Governor Richardson grew up in Mexico City before moving to New England, where he attended high school and college. He has dedicated his life to public service, as a United States Congressman, Ambassador to the United Nations, Secretary of Energy, and now as Governor of New Mexico. He also chaired the 2004 Democratic National Convention that nominated John Kerry for President. Bill Richardson has been married to his high school sweetheart, Barbara, for 33 years. Richardson received a B.A. from Tufts in 1970 and an M.A. from Tufts' Fletcher School of Law and diplomacy in 1971.

Bill Richardson has a long legacy of support for the traditional planks of the party platform. He believes in better and more affordable health care. He wants to protect the environment and the consumer by increasing energy efficiency. He supports the improvements to domestic security laid out by the 9-11 commission. On trade, Bill Richardson claims that in order to serve the public interest, free trade agreements must include strong protections against wage disparity, worker mistreatment and environmental damage. Because free trade often creates worker dislocation, he will only support new agreements which include worker-adjustment programs. He also believes we must remove US troops from Iraq.