Death Penalty: Where the Candidates Stand

Tom Slockett, our local County Auditor, acting as a private citizen sent out an e-mail through Iowa Rapid Response that indicated that Barack Obama opposed the death penalty while Clinton, Edwards, and Richardson do not. With a little investigation, I discovered that this was incorrect and sent the following message (fyi, Tom Carsner is an Edwards supporter and had sent in a message too):

Tom,

Generally, I appreciate information you provide, but since I don't know what your source is for the information, I looked at a number of sources and found it to be untrue. Summaries by the Pew Forum or On the Issues are more reliable. They show that all of the Democratic and Republican candidates except Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel support it in varying degrees, this includes Obama, Edwards, Clinton, Richardson, Biden, and Dodd.

http://pewforum.org/religion08/compare.php?Issue=Death_Penalty
http://www.ontheissues.org/

Like Tom Carsner, I am supporting John Edwards, not because I entirely agree with Edwards stance on this issue, but because he is for "reforms in the death penalty to ensure that defendants receive fair trials, with zealous and competent lawyers, and with full access to DNA testing", is against torture, favors closing Guantanamo, and for sponsoring the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act bill when he was Senator.

Speaking for myself, I would prefer to support a candidate that is also against the death penalty, but not to the exclusion of other issues that I support and the overall belief in the person to lead as president in a more progressive direction. It's no secret that I support John Edwards, but I also believe that all of us trying to be helpful to those who are still making up their minds need to get our facts straight.