| OnTheIssues.org excerpts: (click on issues for details)
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Abortion
Charlie Summers: Must consider incest or rape.
Angus King: Favors abortion rights; opposes defunding Planned Parenthood.
Charlie Summers: Abortions should always be legal.
Charlie Summers: Funding for research on existing embryonic stem cell lines.
Matt Dunlap: Abortions should always be legally available.
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Budget & Economy
Charlie Summers: Bailouts and stimulus create $16T debt with no end in sight.
Charlie Summers: Wasteful spending, even on military, should be eliminated.
Matt Dunlap: Shore up availability of credit to stimulate job creation.
Matt Dunlap: Shore up availability of credit to stimulate job creation.
Tom Allen: Bush administration’s debt has failed middle-class America.
Susan Collins: We tried & failed in 2005 to tighten mortgage regulations.
Tom Allen: Driving up debt & unbridled free market caused bank crisis.
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Civil Rights
Charlie Summers: Marriage is between a man and a woman.
Angus King: Supports gay marriage.
Charlie Summers: No same-sex marriage; defined by Constitutional Amendment.
Charlie Summers: Affirmative action ok, but not in contracting decisions.
Matt Dunlap: Include sexual orientation in anti-discrimination laws.
Matt Dunlap: Affirmative action ok, but not on state contracts.
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Corporations
Paul LePage: Depreciate bonuses; reduce business tax rate to under 8%.
Susan Collins: Excess corporate pay rewards risk-taking over results.
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Crime
Charlie Summers: Mandatory jail for drug crimes; penalties for online crimes.
Charlie Summers: Supports the federal death penalty.
John Baldacci: End parole for repeat violent offenders.
Cynthia Dill: Alternative penalties for non-violent offenders.
Matt Dunlap: Alternative penalties for non-violent offenders.
Angus King: Opposes the death penalty.
Angus King: More prisons, but more alternative sentencing.
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Drugs
Paul LePage: Mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients.
Charlie Summers: Mandatory jail sentences for selling illegal drugs.
Susan Collins: Provide prison inmates with drug addiction treatment.
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Education
Charlie Summers: Supports vouchers, charters, magnet schools, standard tests.
Cynthia Dill: More funding for schools, teachers, and Head Start.
Angus King: More teacher development; more school construction.
Angus King: Include both abstinence and safe sex in sex-ed.
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Energy & Oil
Charlie Summers: Off-shore exploration for oil, plus nuclear and coal.
Cynthia Dill: Encourage conservation and renewable energy.
Charlie Summers: High gas and oil prices threaten our economy.
Matt Dunlap: Invest in weatherization programs and maintain LIHEAP.
Charlie Summers: Develop oil and natural gas here on American soil.
Susan Collins: Double funding for low-income home weatherization programs.
Tom Allen: 1%-interest loan for home weatherization projects.
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Environment
Angus King: Maine is clean & getting cleaner.
Angus King: Promote Smart Growth via tax breaks.
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Families & Children
Angus King: Best state to raise children; model for America’s Promise.
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Free Trade
Charlie Summers: I support free trade, but protect shoe factories.
Cynthia Dill: Keep tariffs against foreign products that compete unfairly.
Charlie Summers: Free trade yes, but sanctions on Venezuela.
Susan Collins: Some trade agreements have resulted in more tariffs.
Tom Allen: Review existing trade agreements that damaged US economy.
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Government Reform
Charlie Summers: OpEd: Pushes for voter registration, with his name on ballot.
Susan Collins: Reform public financing system to get more opt-in.
John Baldacci: Limit political campaign donations.
Matt Dunlap: No campaign donation limits; just disclosure.
Angus King: Restrict and disclose all campaign donations & spending.
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Gun Control
Angus King: Supports gun rights.
Charlie Summers: Allow individuals to carry concealed guns.
John Baldacci: Allow concealed carry.
Matt Dunlap: Ease or repeal restrictions on purchase & possession of guns.
Angus King: No gun permits for men under restraining orders.
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Health Care
Cynthia Dill: Medicaid and Medicare programs need to be strengthened.
Charlie Summers: 100% deductible cross-state insurance instead of ObamaCare.
Matt Dunlap: ObamaCare individual mandate is constitutional.
Paul LePage: MaineCare recipients contribute to statewide health coverage.
John Baldacci: Ensure access to basic health care.
Angus King: Fund prevention programs “Campaign for a Healthy Maine”.
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Homeland Security
Angus King: Ok to target suspected terrorists outside of war zones.
Cynthia Dill: Cut military spending such as weapons systems.
Cynthia Dill: Opposes unlimited detention of terror suspects.
Charlie Summers: Bath Iron Works & Kittery Naval Shipyard are indispensable.
Charlie Summers: Military tribunals for terrorists; deploy National Guard.
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Immigration
Paul LePage: Welcome immigrants, but no welfare for legal non-citizens.
Cynthia Dill: Repeal residency requirement for driver's license.
Charlie Summers: No citizenship for illegals; yes temporary worker visas.
Sarah Palin: Has not often expressed views on illegal immigration.
Jean Hay Bright: Clamp down on undocumented workers via employers.
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Jobs
Angus King: Keep 900 shoe factory jobs in Maine.
Jean Hay Bright: Raise the minimum wage, then adjust it annually.
Angus King: Worker training for transition from loom to mouse.
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Principles & Values
Susan Collins: Focuses on seniority & forging bipartisan solutions.
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Social Security
Charlie Summers: Remove disability coverage from Social Security.
Cynthia Dill: Stop raiding Social Security Trust Fund.
Matt Dunlap: Remove cap on earnings to sustain system.
Scott D`Amboise: Option to invest in private retirement program.
Charlie Summers: Invest portion of workers' payroll tax in private accounts.
Jean Hay Bright: “Promote the General Welfare” is our founding principle.
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Tax Reform
Cynthia Dill: Require the wealthy to pay their fair share.
Paul LePage: End marriage penalty; increase personal exemptions.
Angus King: Decrease income taxes, but no flat tax.
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Technology
Angus King: High-speed Internet connection for rural parts of Maine.
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War & Peace
Charlie Summers: Iraq & Afghanistan have taken a turn for the positive.
Cynthia Dill: Afghanistan is not as irresponsible as was Iraq.
Matt Dunlap: Iraq war was poorly thought out and enormously expensive.
Scott D`Amboise: Time to bring our troops home from Afghanistan.
Matt Dunlap: We cannot stand by while Syria slaughters its citizens.
Charlie Summers: Keep troop levels high in Iraq until "peace surge".
Charlie Summers: More support for Afghanistan; more sanctions for North Korea.
Susan Collins: Exert economic pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program.
Tom Allen: We need strong economic sanctions against Iran.
Sarah Palin: Generally supportive of America’s presence in Iraq.
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Welfare & Poverty
Paul LePage: End welfare-on-day-one: No instant eligibility for benefits.
Charlie Summers: Welfare recipients must work or train 40 hours a week.
Susan Collins: Block grants for state and local flexibility in welfare.
Cynthia Dill: Increased work requirements for able-bodied recipients.
Matt Dunlap: Expand state services to include the working poor.
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