Editor’s Note

The mission of this Journal Report was pretty basic: We wanted to get beyond the hourly, daily, weekly dose of political sound bites and find out where the presidential candidates stand on four of the most important economic issues facing the country today.
To that end, we asked the campaigns of [...]

Health Care: How Involved Should the Government Be?

When it comes to health care, two questions dominate. First, how do you improve access to care in this country, where the number of uninsured — which hit 47 million in 2006 — continues to rise? And second, how do you stem the rising cost of care, which presents a [...]

Trade: What Exactly Is a Free Trader, Anyway?

Trade runs like a fault line through the presidential election. On one side is Republican John McCain, who has said he is a deep-in-his-bones free trader, who made his first overseas trips of the campaign to Canada and Mexico, the U.S partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement. He [...]

Energy: Different Routes to Free the U.S. From ‘Foreign Oil’

Not since the 1980 race between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan has the U.S. energy challenge been more front and center in a presidential campaign. The soaring cost of oil has driven gasoline to all-time highs, squeezing consumers and reviving fears of the country’s heavy reliance on imported oil. Soaring [...]

The Economy: Competing Visions for Fixing Today — and Tomorrow

The vicissitudes of the U.S. economy are prominent in the minds of American voters. Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain both express grave concern about the health of the economy and the well-being of the middle class, but offer sharply different diagnoses and cures.
To learn more, Wall Street Journal [...]

Prioritizing Health Care

Laura Meckler moderates an ongoing debate on healthcare between two of the campaigns’ top policy advisers. Click here to read the healthcare debate so far. This is the last question in the health debate. Reader comments are welcome and may be used as questions in the debate.
QUESTION #6: If your [...]

Reducing the Cost of Health Care

Laura Meckler moderates an ongoing debate on healthcare between two of the campaigns’ top policy advisers. Click here to read the healthcare debate so far. Reader comments are welcome and may be used as questions in the debate.
QUESTION #5: Let’s shift to the question of costs, which frustrate business, government [...]

Expanding Employer-Sponsored Health Care?

Laura Meckler moderates an ongoing debate on healthcare between two of the campaigns’ top policy advisers. Click here to read the healthcare debate so far. Reader comments are welcome and may be used as questions in the debate.
QUESTION #4: You are each saying that the other candidate’s plan will erode [...]

On Health, Weaknesses Abound

Laura Meckler moderates an ongoing debate on healthcare between two of the campaigns’ top policy advisers. Click here to read the healthcare debate so far. Reader comments are welcome and may be used as questions in the debate.
QUESTION #3: What would you each say is the one single biggest weakness [...]

Counting Bureaucrats, Covering the Uninsured

Laura Meckler moderates an ongoing debate on healthcare between two of the campaigns’ top policy advisers. Click here to read the healthcare debate so far. Reader comments are welcome and may be used as questions in the debate.
QUESTION #2: Sen. McCain says that the Obama plan would wind up [...]