A logical, reasonable person can see that video games do not cause school shootings - no matter what Jack Thompson says. And this same kind of person would realize that huge gaming locations like Japan and Korea have incredibly high test scores in math and science. Sadly, people often do not want to hear this, and so video games become a scapegoat and a red herring for politicians.

A follow up on our earlier article regarding Clinton and video games, we will now look at all three of the leading candidates and their stances towards the gaming industry. We can’t know for sure if a talking point and a scapegoat will turn into something with substance, but it is important to look at the future if they do follow through with their promises.

Clinton was covered in our previous article. She has many obvious and explicit promises to ban games and punish the gaming industry - particularly when it comes to Grand Theft Auto. Chances are her harsh and unforgiving stances towards video games would have a largely negative impact on the affiliated companies.

In 2006, Obama blamed video games as well as television as the cause of some problems in adolescent youth. In February 07 he informed a crowd in Austin, Texas that they need to stop playing GameBoy. He even turned down a five hundred dollar donation from the Entertainment Software Association. But through all this, there is no plan nor any promise that he will actually ban or reform the production of video games. This seems to be a bluff - the gaming industry is safe under Obama.

McCain is now the only frontrunner that does not have a quote or written stance against video games. But his good friend, Joe Liberman, is a well known crusader against the industry. How much influence would Liberman have with McCain on the issue? Seems like he might have a more important agenda. Stocks in the gaming industry would go up with McCain as well.