Over the course of the next several months, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama will try to convince voters that their ideas and policies are best for the United States.
And according to Professor Ken Bickers, chair of the political science department at the University of Colorado at Boulder, voters will have no trouble distinguishing the differences between the two political rivals.
"Obama wants to roll back the tax cuts of the Bush years, he wants to redeploy the troops from Iraq and he wants to have a government-run health care system," said Bickers. "On the other hand, McCain wants to stick with the tax cuts, he wants to keep the troops in Iraq, he wants to have a private system of health care alternatives and how they're talking about stimulating the economy is very different."
A number of important issues such as the sluggish economy, high energy prices and the Iraq war should favor the Democratic challenger, said Bickers, since most polls say people are tired of the war and past elections have shown that when the economy is doing poorly that usually means trouble for the incumbent party. On the other hand, he said high energy prices might favor McCain since it's the Republicans who have been campaigning for more oil drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
But as different as the two men are on the issues, according to Bickers, they share a fundamental weakness: neither one is very strong even within their own party.
"Both of these candidates are a little unusual in that they both are, in some regards, weaker than general election nominees usually are," he said. "Neither one has, in the hearts and minds of the rank and file in the parties, won the nomination yet."
According to Bickers, on the one hand, both candidates appeal to independent voters who are not strongly tied to their parties and yet both do not have the full support of core constituents that are vital to win the presidency. He said McCain lacks the support of conservative Republicans while Obama lacks support from what are referred to as "Reagan Democrats," blue-collar, industrial union and working-class members of the party that go to church, like to hunt and enjoy NASCAR.
What may separate the two candidates in the end, Bickers said, is who does a better job of selling themselves to the undecided voters within their own parties.
To listen to Bickers talk about the presidential candidates, visit the CU-Boulder News Services Web page at .