Iowa Caucus 2012: The Candidates’ Positions on the 4 Main Issues

It's a week before the Iowa Caucus (Jan. 3) and details are sorely missing from the proposed policies by the 2012 Republican presidential primary field. The GOP candidates are eager to point fingers at President Obama and what they view as his failures on the economic front. “When it comes to economic policy, there's a Chinese wall between President Obama’s economic policy proposals and those of the Republican candidate,” says Georgia Tech economist Thomas Boston. “The primary difference is that the president has proposed comprehensive economic policy, while no Republican candidate has.”
This is not to say that Obama has all of the answers, however. “What's missing from the president's proposals are checks and balances to guarantee that the benefits of his proposals filter down to African-Americans,” Boston adds. “In the final analysis, there's no question that economic policies Obama proposes are better than those offered by Republican candidates. At the same time, there's significant room for improvement.” Here's a hard look at the candidates.—Joyce Jones