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Most of the campaigns are a little overwhlemed right now, if you want to know why, look under our events in the left column and note the full court press they are doing on New Hampshire this weekend.
Still, we have to start somewhere, so here is what we have right now, and we'll post the others as they come in.
You know the drill. Two hundred words. Starts with "I am the only candidate who". Contains a substantive policy point.
So here we go: From Obama:
I am the only candidate with the understanding of the Constitution that comes with teaching, practicing, and writing about constitutional law. This Administration puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. Bush's advisors interpret Article II of the Constitution as granting boundless authority. This is not how our Constitution is designed. As President, I will close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, adhere to the Geneva Conventions, and restore the centuries-old protection of habeas corpus. Our Constitution and Uniform Code of Military Justice provide a framework for dealing with terrorists. We can provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools needed to track and take out terrorists without undermining our freedoms. That means no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens. No more tracking citizens for protesting a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are. And it is not needed to protect the country. The FISA court works. The separation of powers works. Our Constitution works. We will again show the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers, and that justice is not arbitrary.
From Dodd:
"I am the only candidate that has promised to restore the Constitution from the damage inflicted on it by six years of the Bush Administration during my first day in the Oval Office.
"This Administration has misused its executive power since its first days in office -- from Cheney's Energy Task Force to their efforts to undermine the Constitution through abuses like warrantless wiretaps and degradation of habeas corpus. As a result our standing in the world and our moral authority is in tatters ? and that has made us less secure as a nation. That is why I introduced the Restoring the Constitution Act that would restore Habeas Corpus protections to detainees, bar information acquired through torture from being introduced as evidence in trials, and limit presidential authority to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions.
"As President, I will fulfill my oath of office and protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
From Hillary:
As President, Hillary Clinton would rein in use of signing statements so Presidents can't pick and choose which portions of a bill to enforce. She has criticized, for example, President Bush for signing the overall reform package of FEMA into law while saying that he wasn't necessarily going to follow one of its provisions ?- one requiring proper qualifications for the director of FEMA. When Hillary is President, the entrance to the White House will no longer be a revolving door for just the well-connected -- but a door of opportunity for the well-qualified. Hillary would also permanently ban all Cabinet officials from lobbying her Administration once they?ve left office. She would extend the whistleblower shield to all government employees and contractors to ensure normal access to jury trials in federal court to defend themselves when they speak out in the public interest. She will end the abuse of no-bid contracts and reinstate the Office of Technology Assessment to restore the role of evidence and facts, not partisanship and ideology, in decision making. For more about how Senator Clinton will clean up the White House, please visit http://www.hillarycl....
Update, Thursday PM
From Biden:
I am the only candidate who has introduced legislation to ban torture, restore habeas corpus and prohibit extraordinary rendition. No President is above the law - but this Administration has consistently acted as if the constitution was just a guideline instead of our highest law. In the aftermath of September 11th, the world looked to us to form a new coalition to face the threat of international terrorism and defend the very values the terrorists had attacked. Regrettably, the President abandoned our uncompromising commitment to the rule of law and individual rights in the belief that it was the only way to secure the United States against the threat of terrorism. By his acceptance of what amounts to torture, the practice of extraordinary rendition, the operation of secret prisons, the unwarranted surveillance of Americans and the revocation of habeas corpus, President Bush has made us less safe at home and weaker abroad. I would do three things to return to our national values, and to restore the rule of law and civil liberties: (1) restore habeas corpus by ensuring that anyone in American custody has the ability to argue before a court of law that his detention was erroneous or illegal; (2) prohibit torture and close down secret CIA prisons in other countries where detainees are held incommunicado and cruelly mistreated; and (3) close down Guantanamo Bay, a facility that symbolizes the Administration's lack of respect for basic human rights and civil liberties.
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