The Science vote: on the surface, the presidential contenders appear to take similar stances and technology. But probe a bit, and differences emerge. Because Senators Barack Obama and John McCain have never formally debated S&T issues, and don't intend to, Science News runs down what these candidates and their campaigns have been saying

Science News, Oct 11, 2008 by Janet Raloff

Stacie M. Propst of Research!America, a biomedical advocacy group based in Alexandria, Va., points to similar variances in responses to policy questions her group sent to the candidates.

Take the National Institutes of Health. She says inflation has eroded the buying power of its research budgets. McCain told her group that he strongly supported funding for NIH--and for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. However, McCain's campaign did not check a box saying he would increase funding for any of these agencies.

In contrast, Obama checked boxes to increase funding for all three agencies. He added that the FDA is badly underfunded, urgently needs better experts to inspect food and other regulated products, and must abolish "pressures to silence internal drug-safety critics" or attempts to protect drug companies from product liability.

In general, Propst says, there are many "commonalities" in the candidates' attitudes toward biomedical re search, including the favoring of an expansion in federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. However, McCain's answers do suggest "a pretty big distinction, in our minds," from the aggressive support for research evinced by Obama's responses, she says.

Interpretative differences also emerge in the candidates' attitudes toward evolution. Although both profess to believing in it, they differ on the appropriateness of teaching creationism--sometimes portrayed as "intelligent design"--in public schools. Obama told the York Daily Record in Pennsylvania that "there's a difference between science and faith.... And I think it's a mistake to try to cloud the teaching of science with theories that frankly don't hold up to scientific inquiry."

In contrast, McCain's campaign told the Christian Broadcasting Network last year that "McCain believes evolution is supported by science, but that we shouldn't be afraid to expose students to other theories." Two years earlier, McCain said much the same thing in a videotaped meeting with staffers from the Arizona Daily Star. When asked whether children should learn about intelligent design in science classrooms, McCain responded that plenty of scientists think so--and "all points of view should be presented."

Both candidates strongly support the space program and value domestic development of innovative technologies, and both would continue aggressive wetlands preservation. However, Obama's campaign has released far more data on its candidate's S&T views and education proposals than has McCain's.

For instance, Obama told the Science Debate 2008 group that he would "guarantee" students have access to strong science curricula at all ages "so they graduate knowing how science works using hands-on, IT-enhanced education." He also vowed to launch a scholarship program to subsidize the education of teachers who commit to teaching in "a high-need school." Priority would go to those who would teach math and science. And new Teacher Residency Academies would place 30,000 educators at high-need schools, Obama said, "training thousands of science and math teachers."