This is a quick overview of some basic impacts that the current presidential candidates positions on not only the Iraq War but also homeland security in general could have into the homeland defense sector of the market. The defense sector is composed largely of, but not limited to, many of the companies listed in our forum.

John McCain is well known to be heavily in support of programs to improve homeland security. Earlier in 2008 he voted to improve the human intelligence network in an effort to track down noted terrorist Osama Bin Laden. In 1999 he affirmed that America had a good cause to fight in Vietnam. This draws a direct parallel to the Iraq War in that he considers it a war worth fighting and will, therefore, continue to fight it. Overall, John McCain would be very good for business in the defense and homeland security sector.

Mike Huckabee is short and sweet. He publicly advocated an idea to strengthen both the armed forces and the CIA to keep Americans safe at home. He believes that Al-Qaeda occupy Iraq and would continue to fight them and extend the Iraq War. Huckabee would be good for the defense sector as well.

Barack Obama frequently mentions his vote against entering the Iraq War in the first place. The Obama-Lugar bill in 2007 restricted conventional weapons, which would hurt the companies that produce small arms, explosives, artillery, and the like. However, he voted yes to registering women for the draft so if indeed the draft were instated there would be somewhere around double the possible recruits and thus twice as many guns necessary to arm those troops. But when considering the low likelihood of a draft being instated (such an action is only really proposed when a politician would like to end his or her career), we can see that Obama would generally have a negative impact on important military and defense contractors.

Hillary Clinton stated in November 2007 that national security was more important than human rights. Considering the positions she usually takes that are very liberal, it is clear that national security is something that is being taken very seriously. Clinton also supports increased funding for the research and development of missile defense programs. While she agrees in pulling out of the Iraq war, military contractors may still be able to recoup some losses by taking an active role in the busy sector national security would be if Hillary takes over.