| Issue
| Matt Santos
| Arnold Vinick
| Commentary
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| Abortion
| Santos believes abortion should be limited in some circumstances, but does not support restrictions that require minors to notify their parents in all instances (alternative parental-notification measures allow for minors to seek court waiver of that requirement) or that prevent all partial-birth abortions (alternative measures allow for such abortions if a doctor believes it necessary to preserve the woman's life or health).
| Vinick believes abortion should be limited in some circumstances. Vinick does support restrictions that require minors to notify their parents in all instances (alternative parental-notification measures allow for minors to seek court waiver of that requirement) or that prevent all partial-birth abortions (alternative measures allow for such abortions if a doctor believes it necessary to preserve the woman's life or health). Vinick's running mate strongly opposes abortion rights.
| Both seem to be with the majority of the American people when it comes to abortion: they believe that abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances and should be illegal in some. Gallup polls from June 2005 found that 55 percent of those polled believe that abortion should be legal under certain circumstances (and thus presumably illegal in others), that 24 percent believe that abortion should be legal under any circumstances, and that 20 percent believe that abortion should be illegal under any circumstances (see data here). These results are generally consistent with polls taken by Gallup going back decades.
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| Budget / Taxes
| Santos said in the debate that he would raise taxes on the richest Americans in order to pay for his programs and to balance the budget.
| Vinick supports lower taxes and a balanced budget, based on reducing spending twice as much as taxes get reduced, what he calls a "two-for-one" plan. "I'm for all the good government we can afford, no more, no less," he said in In God We Trust. He did not say in the debate how he would cut spending, but likened spending cuts to shrinking an allowance.
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| Business
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| Vinick favors tort reform in order to reduce the costs incurred by businesses in defending lawsuits and in getting insurance. Vinick is pro-business, according to campaign advisor Bruno Gianelli.
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| Campaign Finance
| Santos has criticized current campaign-finance laws and debate rules used in New Hampshire, but it is not entirely clear how he would reform such laws.
| Vinick criticized campaign-finance laws that allow organizations to run television ads independent of a campaign.
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| Cuba
| Santos presumably supports ending the decades-old embargo against Cuba, especially given Leo McGarry's efforts on this issue and McGarry's visit to Cuba to meet with Fidel Castro in Ninety Miles Away.
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| Death Penalty
| Santos said in the debate that he supported a moratorium on the federal death penalty, presumably over concerns over its application.
| Vinick said in the debate that he did not support a moratorium on the federal death penalty.
| In real life, Illinois Governor Jim Ryan, a Republican, called a moratorium on January 31, 2000 in the wake of several highly publicized cases in which 13 people were found over a 10-year period to be innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted and sentenced to death; this moratorium has remained in place under Ryan's successor, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, though reforms have been enacted and some have called for lifting the moratorium. In real life, the federal government had 23 people sentenced to death as of the end of 2003 and had executed one person that year; by contrast, Texas had 453 people on death row as of the end of 2003 and had executed 24 people that year (source: Bureau of Justice Statistics).
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| Education
| Santos' main campaign platform is education. He supports ending teacher tenure and increasing the school year, two measures that traditionally are for state and local governments to decide, not for the federal government (though he can influence such decisions through funding measures). Santos thus is willing to increase the federal role in education policy, and says that education is too important for the federal government to not become more involved.
| Vinick said in King Corn that he favored ending teacher tenure, but thought that a federally-mandated longer school year and a greater federal role in education sounded like a "another big Washington power grab to me."
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| Energy
| Santos told Iowa voters in King Corn that he supported ethanol subsidies, though he previously had not supported them. Santos opposes the further development of nuclear power, apparently until more is done about permanent storage of nuclear waste.
| Vinick told Iowa voters in King Corn that he did not support ethanol subsidies. Vinick said in In God We Trust that he would support an energy deregulation bill depending on how it was ultimately written, suggesting that he favors energy deregulation in general but not in all instances. Vinick supports the development of nuclear power.
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| Environment
| Santos opposes oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
| Vinick is pro-environment, according to campaign advisor Bruno Gianelli. Vinick supports oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge given its remote location, but would oppose oil exploration in natural areas that are regularly visited by many Americans.
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| Evolution
| Santos said that he does believe that the theory of evolution is accurate and that he does believe that God had some role in the development or creation of humanity, though he does not believe that intelligent design or creationism should be taught in public schools.
| Not directly covered thus far.
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| Families
| Santos said in King Corn that he wanted to do something to promoter fathers being involved with their children, such as making "deadbeat dads" pay child support.
| Not directly covered thus far.
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| Farming
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| Vinick sponsored "freedom to farm" legislation which apparently helped small farmers but reduced government subsidies.
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| Foreign Policy
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| Vinick is an internationalist similar to Bartlet, given that he was moderate enough that Bartlet considered nominating him to serve in his administration as Ambassador to the United Nations (a position previously held by Richard Holbrooke, John Negroponte, John Danforth, and now John Bolton). Leo said in In the Room that Vinick always supported Bartlet on foreign policy.
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| Gun Control
| Santos said in the debate that he would support ammunition licensing, apparently rather than further gun control.
| Vinick said in the debate that he would not support further gun control.
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| Health Care
| Santos supported the passage of a bill that would have given patients more rights to sue their health-care providers for negligence. Santos said in the debate that he ideally would allow all Americans access to Medicare, thus providing some measure of hospitalization coverage to all regardless of age.
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| Immigration
| Santos privately opposed a California state bill that would have denied illegal immigrants the opportunity to obtain state driver's licenses because he felt it did little to address security concerns while making life more difficult for illegal immigrants. Santos previously proposed a temporary workers program that would allow some illegal immigrants to work legally in the United States for some years. Vinick and Santos both supported what Santos called a "doomed" immigration reform several years ago. Santos opposes increased border patrols as ineffective.
| Vinick proposed new measures to reduce illegal immigration, including increased border security and a temporary workers program that would allow some illegal immigrants to work legally in the United States for some years (Bush made a similar proposal in early 2004). Vinick and Santos both supported what Santos called a "doomed" immigration reform several years ago.
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| Labor
| Santos initially supported a Central American trade agreement because of the increased trade opportunities but ultimately voted against the final version of the agreement because of a concern that it eroded workers' rights.
| Vinick supported an increase in the federal minimum wage. Vinick supported a Central American trade agreement because of the increased trade opportunities.
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| Sports
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| Vinick said in In God We Trust that sports teams should pay for their own stadiums, without local funding.
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| Stem Cells
| Santos supported passage of a House bill that would allow more federal research on embryonic stem cells.
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| Trade
| Santos initially supported a Central American trade agreement because of the increased trade opportunities but ultimately voted against the final version of the agreement because of a concern that it eroded workers' rights.
| Vinick supported a Central American trade agreement because of the increased trade opportunities.
| The United States did enter into the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement in August 2005, when President George W. Bush signed the legislation implementing CAFTA-DR. Bush cited many factors in favor of the agreement, including economic growth within the United States and preventing illegal immigration. Several Democrats, including former President Jimmy Carter, supported the entry into CAFTA-DR.
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| White House Leak
| In response to the leak of the existence of a military space shuttle, Santos said that he supported Bartlet's decision to stop the White House's internal investigation into the leak.
| In response to the leak of the existence of a military space shuttle, Vinick said that he would have investigated his own White House and fired anyone who was involved in the leak. Vinick ran a Senate committee that conducted several investigations of the Bartlet administration, but refused to investigate an alleged flag burning in the White House.
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