Presidential Views on ECE

As Independence Day rolls closer, I'm naturally inclined to pay more attention to national politics--as if the presidential race this year won't draw millions of new people into the process anyway. It’s an exciting year to be paying attention too, as Sen. Barack Obama-D and Sen. John McCain-R offer stark differences for voters in their style, policy positions and backgrounds.
Of course, Ready 4 K is interested in what the senators have to say about early childhood issues. Let’s take a look at some snippets from their websites to see how they fare:

Obama outlines his plan for early childhood here, and offered some suggestions in a speech last fall. Obama’s website gives more details as well:

Expand Early Childhood Education: Research shows that half of low-income children start school up to two years behind their peers in preschool skills and that these early achievement gaps continue throughout elementary school. Obama has been a champion of early childhood education since his years in the Illinois legislature….Read more here.

Support Parents with Young Children: Barack Obama would expand programs like the successful Nurse-Family Partnership to all low-income, first-time mothers….Read more here.

Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit: Barack Obama will reform the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit by making it refundable and allowing low-income families to receive up to a 50 percent credit for their child care expenses….Read more here.

McCain, on the other hand, sticks to broad generalities in most instances on his website. In the education section of his site, he focuses on the role of parents to choose their chidren's schools:

Public education should be defined as one in which our public support for a child's education follows that child into the school the parent chooses. The school is charged with the responsibility of educating the child, and must have the resources and management authority to deliver on that responsibility. They must also report to the parents and the public on their progress.

“Early childhood” is not mentioned on his website.

It is still early in the campaign and this is reflected not only in the candidates own words (or lack there of), but also in the fact that it’s difficult to find a good analysis and comparison of where Obama and McCain stand on the issue.

What do you think? Which candidate has the better approach to early childhood?