The Lions’ Roar is committed to bringing
coverage of the November elections to NCC students. In addition, it is believed
that citizens are more likely to vote when they know what the candidates stand for.

This year in the state of Minnesota, there is an open seat in the senate, meaning that there is a hot race to take the incumbents place. When there is an incumbent, it is a statistical fact that 90 percent of nominees running for reelection
will win their seat again. When the seat is open, however, the nominee who does the best campaigning and has the best stance on the right issues, gets elected.
The two main candidates are the republican nominee Mark Kennedy and the democratic nominee Amy Klobuchar.

Both Kennedy and Klobuchar are elected officials, who are giving up their seats to run for the more coveted senate seat.
Candidates use hot-issues to gain votes and influence undecided voters. For instance, almost every candidate in every race in the country has an opinion on Iraq and how to get our troops out of there, or to get the job done adequately.

Klobuchar believes that we need a firm timeline to get out of Iraq.
“I will fight for a change of course in Iraq. 2006 should be the year that the Iraqi government decreases its dependency
on the United States. It should be a year of transition in which we bring a significant number of our troops home. Since April, I have been asking the president to give the nation a clear plan to bring our troops home safely. As with any effective plan, there should be a realistic time-frame based on specific milestones and benchmarks, with honest and current
information from the administration about the status of our efforts, the training
of the Iraqi forces and the restoration of basic services to Iraq.”

While Klobuchar believes in returning our troops as safely and as quickly as possible
without disrupting stability in Iraq, Rep. Kennedy believes we need more funding. He believes that the insurgency in Iraq is a huge key in The War on Terror. In his Bill called, “The Right Kind of Change to Washington,” Kennedy states that we need to “Bring our troops home from Iraq once we have met necessary milestones defined by our commanders on the ground.” He would also like to see more money spent on the war. Kennedy would vote for 100 new Inspectors General to be sent to Iraq to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent on the missions and our troops, and not wasted.

Of direct importance to NCC students, Kennedy firmly believes that military recruiters need access to all college campuses, not just public colleges. On this point, Klobuchar is silent, but most democrats like to protect the rights of colleges to choose.

Kennedy has had one or two interesting
contradictions of note. On his own website, he promotes the fact that he voted in favor of a measure that would protect the public expression of religion, as in cases where extremely liberal groups like the ACLU look to limit the rights of veterans
groups and the Boy Scouts, but he wants to enact the Flag Protection Act (An act where flag-burning, a constitutionally protected act would become outlawed), something that would infringe on our constitutionally protected rights.

Another important topic in this upcoming
election is the issue of energy. It is universally accepted that America as a nation is dependent on foreign oil, and that oil companies get tax-breaks to bring their oil to America. It is also agreed on both sides, republican and democrat, that this needs to change. Where issues effect the elections is how the situation should change. Klobuchar is very keen on using the bureaucratic process to affect change in the field of energy. She would like to impose tax penalties on oil companies that price gouge. “It violates our basic principle of fair play when major oil companies
can gouge consumers — not only hurting ordinary families, but also harming
other businesses that see their own costs go up dramatically… Oil companies must be held accountable for the upkeep and oversight of their pipelines.”

While it is a smaller point in her bullet
list of energy initiatives, Klobuchar would like to implement a Neo-Manhattan
Project to focus on the development of alternative energies and to enhance to energy science curriculum in schools. This idea would most directly affect the research and development of clean energies.

Klobuchar is also very much on the E85 bandwagon. She is happy that Minnesota
corn farmers now have a niche market
in turning the tide against pollution. “I’m proud that Minnesota is leading the way to energy independence. Minnesota farmers grow the corn that our producers turn into ethanol. As the price of foreign oil continues to rise, renewable sources like ethanol, biodiesel, wind, solar and biomass will be more and more viable alternatives.”

Kennedy is more concerned with working
with the energies we have now. He would allow states to use deep-ocean drilling to alleviate our dependence on foreign oil. In addition, one of the chokepoints
with U.S. oil is the max amount of oil the United States as a nation can refine per day. Today, there are incredible amounts of regulation and laws in place to prevent expansions and additional oil refineries in the United States. Kennedy sees this as a bottleneck that he would like to remove. Removing this regulation would not only open up more gasoline, diesel and heating oil for use, but the added refineries
would provide more good jobs for hard-working Americans. As Kennedy puts it, “Every time we head to the gas pump, we realize a need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We must promote conservation, expand domestically produced renewable energy and invest in technologies that produce cleaner, safer and more efficient home-grown energy resources.”