So, I’ve perused the three sites of the three candidates out there. All three focused more on Fiscal Issues. and “Freedom” issues, than social things. I looked at what they emphasised, the order things were listed. They all focused on different issues, some had different solutions from each other, and they come from different backgrounds– a Lawyer, a Doctor, and a Political Consultant who owns 2 small businesses and is fond of Tea Parties. You can see who is the most fleshed out. All three have Facebook pages, and I think two (at least one) has a twitter feed. Here’s a side-by-side comparison chart of their platforms, based on what their websites say.
| Jim Rutledge | Corrogan Vaughn | Eric Wargotz | |
| Health Care | Cross state competition, tort reform, cost transparency, portability of policies between jobs. | Tort Reform | Tort reform |
| Illegal Immigration | Enforce Uniform laws | Enforce Laws | Enforce laws, no amnesty |
| Radical Islam | Resist implementation of Shariah Law | ||
| promote superiority of US law | |||
| Energy Independence | Promote clean coal and nuclear | Drill here and now, on land and off shore | |
| Promote Wind and solar | Clean coal and natural gas | ||
| Promote R&D | |||
| Mass transit and Ethenol | |||
| Taxes | No raise in income tax | Bring businesses back to MD | For limited, small gov’t. |
| Abolish inheritance and capital gains taxes | Move away from “production taxes” and toward “Consumption taxes” | ||
| Stop “refunds” to those who don’t pay taxes | Hold line on taxes | ||
| Enforce Immigration laws | |||
| Spending | The proper sphere for spending is national defense: Air, land, sea and space. | Favors strong defense | Balanced Budget Amendment with Exception for War |
| Limit foreign aid and UN spending | Support of Israel | ||
| 2nd Amendment | Supports right to bear arms, to defend self and others. | ||
| Educational Freedom | Supports School Choice | End Dept. of Ed. | |
| Supports Parent’s Bill of Rights | |||
| Supports Academic Freedom | |||
| 1st Amendment | Against PC Speech Codes | ||
| Against “Hate Crimes” legislation (this relates to free speech, for those who may not know why. . . ) | |||
| Against Fairness Doctrine | |||
| Social/ Other (for the record, for the most part, these issues were the least emphasised on all three pages at the time of this writing.) | Pro-Life | Believes marriage is one man/ one woman, but also upholds civil unions for whomever, “just don’t use the word marriage.” | |
| Against Euthanasia and assisted suicide | |||
| Term Limits | For Term Limits | Term Limits should be considered | |
| Current Career | Law | Pol. Consultant, Business-owner | Doctor, County Commissioner |
| Summary | Most of site focused on “freedom” more than anything else. | Still under construction. Seems Tea Party Friendly. Has the most on “social issues” of the three. | Focus on Fiscal, Limiting Gov’t issues. |
(apologies for the odd formatting. I’m not sure why it’s aligning “Full” on some, but not others. Trying to get it not full on any of them. . .)
Note: Vaughn’s website is under construction, so we’re rather incomplete on him. Also, of the three, only Rutledge is currently listed by the MD elections people as a candidate, so I’m assuming he’s the only one with his paperwork in at this time– the for that is deadline is July 6th.
As things progress, I’m sure we’ll be able to fill in more of this, and we may have to change some, maybe even add some people, but here’s your current overview of challenger’s to Mikulski’s senate seat.
American Slytherin 