Fred Thompson is indeed the most conservative of the “top tier” but he still is not a conservative.
Huck has a "Sign up for the Huckabee Newsletter section. This contains a list of check items for issues of interest. One of them is "Foreign Relations: Israel" - clearly an appeal to a subset of American Protestants. What I had hoped to see but did not was "Foreign Relations: China". What Huckabee does have is a strong and spirited position statement on the sanctity of life, with a very nice thumbnail. He is not ashamed to be pro-life, and makes no effort to hide it.
Romney offers a well-organized and well-presented website. His "Issues" section is organized into problem definition ("Challenge") and response featuring a Romney quote. Under Global Competition on China, his "response" is merely a re-statement of the challenge: they are hard-working (true), competing with them will be tough (true, but not the whole story), etc. An appeal to global corporations followed. Nothing about trade or human rights violations - rather soul-less. Talking points, there more for the presence of text than the content value of solutions. He had some general platitudes about strong families but little of substance.
Thompson's site is also well-organized. It says very little about the sanctity of life (you have to dig deep to find a passing reference), and absolutely nothing that I could find about China. Content was sparse, as my two issues are not treated in the website of this particular campaign. Most content was about endorsements, campaign materials, and "getting involved" but left me wondering, getting involved in what?
I realize our guy's website is not exactly great - and certainly does not compete as far as "fluff" goes. But deep and solid content on the issues I sought was present.
All three sites were slick and well presented with no technical difficulties encountered. They seemed to capitalize on issues before the average voter ("Immigration"), but said very little about serious and complex threats facing this nation long-term ("China").
Sorry if that offends anyone, and I do not disrespect the candidates themselves. I tried to be as fair as someone already supporting a candidate can be, and what I wrote here is what I saw regarding these two issues - China and the sanctity of life. The absence of anything about China - other than Romney's astute observation that they are a tough competitor - is extremely worrisome. It jives with what I've heard to date from the candidates. The next 45 days or so will prove a test of whether we are a "thinking" people or a "feeling" people.
If I've missed something - and I'm sure I have - I would welcome respective supporters to point it out. Links would be helpful.
“Top Tier” candidate with only 3-4 percent in New Hampshire.
Also, he’s not showing himself to be a very good campaigner! :-( I’m rather disappointed.