McCain vs. Obama: where they stand.

As a final note before tomorrow's election, Builder magazine has an article summarizing the stands of both John McCain and Barack Obama. Although many builders typically vote along strict Republican lines, some well-known builders such as Toll Bros.' Bob Toll and Eli Broad, founder of Kaufman & Broad, support the Democratic nominee. If nothing else, that should make for interesting conversations at industry functions! From a BuilderOnline.com story:

With no end to the housing downturn in sight, with banks and investment firms hemorrhaging billions of dollars, then failing, and the federal government offering more than $1 trillion and counting to try and stem the tide of the credit crisis, the next president of the United States may hold the future of the country in his hands. Many businesses and individuals are hurting, but the home building industry has more at stake than most.

To say that this election is important to builders would be an understatement of the greatest magnitude; the economy is in a full-fledged nose dive, and builders need a president to restore the American people’s confidence, create new jobs, and right the capsized economy before people will start buying homes in large numbers again...

Finding real answers in the candidates’ whistle-stop promises and scripted answers to softball questions is difficult at best. To provide clarity on the candidates’ positions, Builder first asked readers to rank their top concerns on a 1 to 10 scale with 1 being the highest priority and 10 being the lowest. Then we distilled the candidates’ positions on some of those issues. Our survey revealed that many of you rate the energy and credit crises most important, with immigration, infrastructure development, affordable housing, and green building rounding out the list of your chief domestic concerns.

Read on to find out where McCain and Obama stand on several of your top issues.

Click here for full story.