Candidates Before They Were Candidates

Remember that call for writers we put out a few weeks ago? Well, the intrepid Tony Iantosca was one of the first people to respond to it, so it makes sense that he'd also be the first new writer from our new batch to post on Phillyist. Tony is a recent graduate of Johnson State College in Vermont and moved to Philly on a whim. He's still getting to know the ropes around Philadelphia, but he does know a lot about what's going on across the country, so he'll be bringing a bit of national flair to this little cityblog of ours. Welcome, Tony!

Often when Americans think of whom to vote for both in primaries and in presidential elections, we forget to consider the candidates’ lives before they were candidates. Here are some lesser-known bits about the presidential hopefuls:

• Recently, Illinois Senator Barack Obama won the Nebraska, Washington, Lousiana, and Maine caucuses with his message of changing “business as usual” in American politics. Yet for all his rhetoric, on Feb. 3 the New York Times reported that a bill Obama spearheaded requiring nuclear power plants to immediately report any radioactive leaks into surrounding communities was rewritten to placate the desires of both Republican colleagues and nuclear power company Exelon Corporation. Eventually, the bill merely suggested to nuclear power plants that they notify the public of any leaks. Obama initially took up the issue after his constituents in Illinois expressed anger over Exelon’s reputed radioactive leak into their communities two years ago. Exelon Corporation is one of the nation’s largest nuclear power plant companies, as well as one of the biggest donors to Obama’s campaign. Sounds an awful lot like business as usual.
• Maybe now we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the possibility of a Mormon as president is gone. At the Conservative Political Action Conference, Romney announced he was suspending his bid for the Republican nomination. On the campaign trail, Romney often touted his experience as a venture capitalist in the private sector claiming that he understands how to manage an economy, how to create jobs. But once again, we turn to investigative reporting to tell us the truth: in December 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported that Romney’s involvement in buyout firm Bain Capital resulted in massive lay-offs, the outsourcing of jobs overseas, and the investment of enormous amounts of profits in off-shore bank accounts. None of those practices are illegal, but they are slightly unethical. Not the kind of guy we’d like to run an ailing economy.
• Romney has made room for John McCain, the Arizona senator on his second bid for the republican presidential nomination. According to most American media, McCain, unless something drastic happens, is likely to win the nomination. While he’s better than the ultra-religious Romney and Mike Huckabee, he nonetheless commented in New Hampshire before the first primary that it would be fine with him if the U.S. maintained a presence in Iraq for 50 years. Such a proposition might be a hard sell to families of soldiers who last year had their tours of duty in Iraq extended from 12 to 15 months.

Image Credit: Joe Crimming's Photography