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List: US presidential hopefuls
02/01/2008 19:37 - (SA)
Washington - Leading candidates in the race for the
November 2008 US presidential election are seeking to become
the first woman, the first black or the first Mormon to occupy
the White House.
Following are brief profiles of the main contenders:
DEMOCRATS:
1)Hillary Clinton:
Hillary Clinton, 60, would be the first woman president in
US history. Serves as senator from New York and was first
lady when her husband, Bill, was president from 1993 to 2001.
Has emphasized efforts to cover 47 million Americans without
health insurance and criticised opponents for lack of
experience.
Has led most national opinion polls by double
digits but is locked in tight fights in Iowa and New
Hampshire.
2)John Edwards:
John Edwards, 54, is a former one-term senator from North
Carolina and was the Democratic nominee for vice president in
the 2004 election.
Has made combating poverty a major campaign
theme. Called his voting to authorise military action in Iraq a
mistake and now urges withdrawing US troops from Iraq.
His
wife, Elizabeth, is being treated for a recurrence of cancer.
3) Barack Obama:
Barack Obama, 46, serves as a freshman US senator
representing Illinois and would be the first black president.
Gave the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic convention
before he was elected.
Has opposed the Iraq war from the
beginning and tried to cast himself as a Washington outsider.
Has pulled nearly even with front-running Clinton in recent
polls in Iowa and New Hampshire but trails nationally.
REPUBLICANS:
1) Rudy Giuliani:
Rudi Giuliani, 63, is a former New York mayor and has tried
to boost his candidacy by speaking repeatedly about his
leadership during the September 11 2001, attacks.
Widely shunned
by many conservative voters because of his support for abortion
rights, gun control and gay rights, but received endorsement
from Christian evangelist Pat Robertson.
Has led most national
polls but behind in early primary voting states.
2) Mike Huckabee:
Mich Huckabee, 52, is a bass-playing former Arkansas
governor and Baptist minister from Hope, Arkansas, the
birthplace of Bill Clinton.
Has used his religious beliefs and
support for constitutional bans on gay marriage and abortion to
boost support from conservative voters.
Known for his wit and
humour but criticized for lack of knowledge on foreign policy.
3) John McCain:
John McCain, 71, a senator from Arizona, attended the US
Naval Academy and was shot down in 1967 over Vietnam.
Spent 5
1/2 years as a prisoner of war. Has been a pro-business
conservative and an abortion foe.
Supports the Iraq war and
argued for additional troops to quell the violence.
Ran for the
Republican nomination in 2000 and beat George W Bush in the
New Hampshire primary.
Slowed by staff turnover and
overspending in early days of his campaign but now building
support in Iowa and New Hampshire.
4) Mitt Romney:
Mitt Romney, 60, is a Harvard-educated former Massachusetts
governor and former chief executive of management consulting
firm Bain & Company who rose to prominence in 2002 for turning
around the debt-ridden Salt Lake City Olympics.
He has tried to
cast himself as a more conservative alternative, opposing gay
rights and abortion rights although he once supported both.
Romney, whose father sought the Republican presidential
nomination in 1968, would be the first Mormon president if
elected.
Has turned to negative advertising and mailings as his
poll leads in Iowa and New Hampshire have eroded.
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