Dems mostly in agreement; GOPers at odds

Mark Murray Deputy political director

WASHINGTON - Heading into Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate, the Democratic candidates actually agree on most of the issues, but that likely won’t stop the drama.

There’s one thing you can safely say about the early presidential contest: It hasn’t been boring.

Much of the drama, intrigue and bickering has occurred on the Democratic side: intramural squabbling over the 2002 Iraq war authorization vote; a tiff over David Geffen’s remarks about Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.; the money race between Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.; or the revelation that Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer has returned.

But with the first Democratic debate set for Thursday – moderated by NBC’s Brian Williams, broadcast live on MSNBC, and streamed live here on MSNBC.com – these mini-dramas have obscured an interesting fact about the Democratic contest.

The candidates actually agree on nearly all of the major issues:

• They all support abortion rights.
• They all want to end the federal restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research.
• They all favor enacting comprehensive immigration reform.
• They all want universal health-care coverage.
• And, with just one exception, they all oppose gay marriage but support civil unions.

Even when it comes to Iraq, a subject that has sparked much of the early infighting, there isn’t a Joe Lieberman in the bunch: they all believe that Bush’s troop increase is a mistake, that American troops need to come home as soon as possible, and that the war in Iraq has been a diversion in the broader fight against terrorism. Indeed, according to an analysis by the Talking Points Memo news blog, Clinton and Obama have cast identical votes on Iraq in all but one instance since Obama joined the Senate.

Tom Matzzie, the Washington director of the antiwar group MoveOn.org, also has noticed their similarities on the war. “They are working hard for the voters who want to get out of Iraq.”

GOP divisions
On the other hand, the Republican presidential hopefuls – who will square off next week in another debate – split on some of these issues.

For example, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee all support comprehensive immigration reform (although McCain seems to have shifted his stance somewhat by embracing the idea of sending illegal immigrants back to their home countries before they apply for citizenship). Others, most notably Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., oppose the idea.

In addition, Giuliani and McCain favor expanding embryonic stem-cell research, while other GOP contenders, including Brownback and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, oppose it.

Politics   Click here to share your thoughts on political matters, including the war in Iraq, the mortgage crisis, campaign fundraising, immigration, the economy, NAFTA, and the presidential campaign.

Even an issue such as free trade, which most Republicans traditionally back, has detractors in Tancredo and Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.

And there isn’t complete GOP unanimity on Iraq – even though the major candidates (Giuliani, McCain, and Romney) support Bush’s troop increase, oppose any timetable for withdrawal, and believe it’s the central front in the war on terror.

For instance, Brownback, Tancredo, and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, all disagreed with the so-called troop surge, and Paul even voted against the 2002 war authorization. Furthermore, former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson believes the Iraqi government should vote on whether it wants U.S. troops to remain in the country; if it doesn’t, he says, Americans should leave.

Picking the president — the candidates Click a name below to visit that candidate’s MSNBC page • Joe Biden                 • Sam Brownback     • Hillary Clinton          • Chris Dodd • John Edwards         • Rudy Giuliani           • Mike Gravel              • Duncan Hunter • Mike Huckabee        • Dennis Kucinich     • John McCain           • Barack Obama • Ron Paul                    • Bill Richardson      • Mitt Romney            • Tom Tancredo • Fred Thompson To subscribe to a candidate page RSS feed, click here.

MORE FROM POLITICS

Politics Section Front

Obama pledges aid to Afghanistan McCain spends aggressively ahead of cap   McCain adviser reflects post-9/11 world Idea of gas-tax holiday dies quick death Gore pushes clean energy at Netroots NYT: Rivals McCain, Romney make up Iraq pact could complicate campaigns McCain raises more than $21 million in June Obama going abroad with world watching Obama's trip: sign of new era in diplomacy? Politics Section Front   Add Politics headlines to your news reader: