REPUBLICANS (John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul)

Healthcare

When it comes to healthcare, the Republicans would like to see lower costs, but do not think it should be mandated through the government. They support market-based approaches at the state level to improve the rising cost of health insurance. To help make healthcare more affordable, Romney and Paul hope to make all medical costs tax deductible. Instead of deducting health care costs from taxes at the end, McCain and Huckabee support tax credits for medical costs. McCain's tax credits would be paid to every American - $2,500 for an individual or $5,000 per family. Huckabee's tax credits would only apply to low-income families.

War in Iraq

Although support is not as strong as it used to be, many Republican politicians still stand behind Bush and the war in Iraq. Huckabee, Romney and McCain all support the current president's plan to send additional troops to Iraq and Bush's veto of the war-spending bill. This bill aimed to have troops withdrawn by March 2008. Paul, on the other hand, voted against the use of military force in Iraq.

"It's unconstitutional. It's an undeclared war," said Paul at the CNN Debates. He later opposed the war-spending bill like the rest of his fellow Republican contenders, but said he wants to bring the troops home.

Education

The Republican Party as well as three of the candidates support Bush's No Child Left Behind plan. Paul does not. He voted against the act and opposes a centralized system of education. Romney hopes to change the No Child Left Behind plan by offering more flexibility to states that meet national standards. Huckabee also hopes to continue to use the No Child Left Behind plan, but give states more flexibility in setting their own standards.

Immigration

When it comes to immigration, like Obama and Clinton, Huckabee supports the Bush-backed legislation calling for increased spending, stricter border control, and creating a path for some illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens. McCain supported the pathway to citizenship in his original platform and previously advocated an immigrant amnesty bill in Congress, but in the Jan. 30 debates before Super Tuesday he said he would not support it. Romney opposed the Bush plan because he worries that it goes too far in expanding immigration levels, and he is concerned this could cause problems in the future. Paul also does not want to make a plan for illegal immigrants to gain citizenship. He would like to change the current immigration law that allows birthright citizenship - therefore, children of illegal immigrants who are born in the United States would not be considered U.S. citizens.

Taxes

The Republican Party supports making the Bush tax cuts permanent and typically opposes raising taxes, but Huckabee has a very different approach to taxes than his fellow candidates. "One of the things I'd like to trade is the nonsense of our tax system to the common sense of what's often called the fair tax," Huckabee said at a news conference held in Jefferson City. If passed, this would abolish the IRS and replace the current income tax with a national retail sales tax.

Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage, and Stem Cell Research

When looking at the three big moral issues - abortion, same-sex marriage, and stem cell research - the conservative right wing takes a very different stance than the Democrats. Many in the Republican Party call themselves pro-life, meaning they do not think a woman should be able to choose to end her pregnancy. Each of the candidates running for the Republican nomination oppose abortion rights.

The same-sex marriage issue is not as straight forward among Republican candidates. Like the Democrats, they all oppose same-sex marriage on a personal and moral level, but the big question is what do they think the government should do about this. The Republican candidates are split. Huckabee and Romney would both support a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. McCain and Paul both voted against the federal marriage amendment in 2004 because they believe that this decision should be left up to the states.

Conservatives typically oppose federally funded embryonic stem cell research. Huckabee, Romney and Paul follow the party line on this issue. McCain on the other hand supports embryonic stem cell research. At the MSNBC primary debate he said, "I believe that we need to fund this. This is a tough issue for those of us in the pro-life community. I would remind you that these stem cells are either going to be discarded or perpetually frozen. We need to do what we can to relieve human suffering. It's a tough issue. I support federal funding."

SUMMARY:

This is where each candidate differs from the others:

McCain:

-Supports federally funded embryonic stem cell research

-Opposes constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage

-Supports healthcare tax credits for all Americans

Romney:

-Supports making healthcare costs tax deductible

Huckabee:

-Supports Fair Tax

-Supports healthcare tax credits for low-income families

Paul

-Opposes War in Iraq

-Opposes No Child Left Behind

-Opposes Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage