Presidential Candidates for the 2012 Election

On January 3, 2012, a presidential caucus will be held in community centers, churches, and other meeting centers all around Iowa. There will be both a republican caucus and a democratic caucus although the leading story lies with the republican caucus because the leading democratic candidate and most likely pick of the party is President Barak Obama. In the following blog I will give a brief summary of all of the potential candidates in hope to educate the readers in the views and candidates. The information on the following candidates was acquired from their campaign websites.

Michelle Bachman, who is 55 years old and was the leading candidate in the straw poll but has now moved down in ranks for the upcoming election. She grew up in Minnesota and spent five years as a federal tax litigation attorney. In 2000 she was elected to the Minnesota state senate and in 2006 she became the first republican woman to be elected to Congress. Bachman currently lives in Stillwater Minnesota with her husband of thirty years. The couple has had five children and opened their home to twenty-three foster children. Her family has served as an important base for her political views. Michelle Bachman believes that the government has been over-spending, wants to reform taxes, decrease government size, and adhere to the constitution. Bachman removed herself from the race the day after the Iowa caucus. Information attained from http://www.michelebachmann.com/

Sixty-eight year old Newt Gingrich is from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Gingrich began his career as a soldier and then became a professor of history and environmental studies at West Georgia College and is the author of twenty-three books, thirteen of which are NY Times best sellers. He hosts and produces award-winning documentaries with his wife Callista and is a proud father of two daughters and the grandfather of two grandchildren. His basis in the military caused him to fight for freedom in everything he pursues. If elected president, he hopes to achieve a better health system by promoting research, prevention, and wellness. He also hopes to create jobs and work on cleaner energy. Information attained from  http://www.newt.org/

Jon Huntsman is fifty-one years old and is from Salt Lake City, Utah. At a young age he traveled around the world and became a successful businessman through his experience as an executive in his family’s business. After a mission trip to Taiwan, he became a U.S Ambassador for Singapore and helped to negotiate free trade with African Nations. In 2009 he was asked by President Obama to be the China ambassador. Huntsman is an advocate for market-based health care reform, consumer freedom in the marketplace, and is anti-abortion. Information attained from http://jon2012.com/welcome/home.html

Ron Paul is a seventy-six year old candidate from Surfside, Texas. He grew up in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and graduated with a medical degree. In the 1960’s, he served as a flight surgeon and in 1969 he and his wife Carol moved to Texas where he started a medical practice in obstetrics and gynecology. Today they are the parents of five children and eighteen grandchildren. Paul was elected into Congress where he has been serving for twenty years. He continually votes for a limited government and promotes a legislative return to the constitution. Information attained from www.ronpaul2012.com/