The Democratic Presidential Candidates and Transit

Though transportation - let alone transit - is hardly the stuff that makes the major policy papers of presidential candidates, a few of the candidates have pointed out how they feel about public transport. Here's a summary:

Hillary Clinton
Senator Clinton describes how she might go about improving the country's energy situation, and she does write in a press release that "Public transit systems are under-funded and insufficiently integrated into local land use policy." Her campaign has also been endorsed by the United Transportation Workers, showing that they think that she'll be good to labor in the industry. Specifically, the candidate proposes to add $1.5 billion dollars every year for public transportation funding. While I certainly don't think this is a big enough number, it's a lot better than nothing, right? As one of New York's senators, it's perhaps unsurprising that Clinton has a positive view of transportation, and she's felt that way at least since she was running for Senate in 2000. Her husband's administration, from 1993 to 2001, by the way, was not perfect on transit, but it did provide a lot more funding for programs like the FTA's New Start than the Bush administration is now. We can assume that a second Clinton presidency would mean more money for trains and busses, at least in New York.

Barack Obama
Senator Obama has voiced his support in the past for transit improvements for his neighbors on the South Side of Chicago. And his wife was on the citizen's transit board there, too. In Washington, Obama's been a supporter of developing new fuels for automobiles, but his focus hasn't been affixed to mass transit. He hasn't written any bills that would specifically address the problems of mass transit. On his campaign webpage, he talks a lot about improving the environment and meeting energy needs, but he only mentions public transportation as a device to deal with poverty. I think most readers of this site agree that while public transportation is clearly important for the poor, it should be improved for everyone's benefit.

John Edwards
The Vice-Presidential Nominee on the Democratic side in 2004, Edwards has shown that he's very interested in increasing the power and importance of labor unions in this country, so it's not surprising that he's already picked up the support of the Transit Workers' Union, headquartered in New York City.

Edwards, the former Senator for North Carolina, has demonstrated an interest in expanding public transit in rural areas for the older members of our society. But other than that, he - as far as I can find - doesn't mention public transportation at all on his website or in any press releases. That's interesting, especially for someone who claims to be interested in creating an equitable society.

Bill Richardson
Richardson is the governor of New Mexico, and in that post, he's demonstrated a strong willingness to deal with issues of transportation, such as in the creation of the new Rail Runner commuter rail project. Some people think that his campaign presents the most compelling push for public transportation of all of the candidates, because of the strong support for the issues he's shown in the past. He's also given speeches in which he states that he wants to see non-oil based vehicles driving transportation into the future. He's a good candidate on this issue.

Dennis Kucinich
Long seen as the most progressive of the candidates, Congressman Kucinich represents Ohio, where he's argued against decreases in transitin Cleveland. He's also been willing to admit that auto-dependent land use and transportation are causing environmental problems, something other candidates don't seem to be mentioning. He, along with the rest of the candidates, doesn't seem to have any specific platform on how to improve the federal government's role in transportation, though.

Joseph Biden
Senator Biden of Delaware, it appears, commutes home everyday from Washington. He's worked to increase funding for transportation projects in his home state. He's also been one of Amtrak's biggest supporters, which makes sense since Delaware relies so much on Amtrak service for commuting to New York City and Philadelphia. Other than the support for Amtrak, though, Biden hasn't been that involved in providing for improved bus and rapid rail systems in the United States.

Christopher Dodd
Senator Dodd of Connecticut does propose improving mass transit for the whole country, though of course, he places the issue far down on his list of priorities. Though he doesn't seem to have been wild in the past about the prospect for improved transit, he has been very interested in improving the security of transit systems.

Mike Gravel
Gravel is, to put it lightly, very unlikely to win the presidency. He's the former Senator from Alaska, and considered low on the list of candidates. Even so, he's very earnest and perhaps the most straight-forward of all the candidates. Interestingly, he often uses public transportation to get to events. And he wants a national maglev transportation system, something I don't think anyone else is arguing for. It's unclear what else, exactly, he's pushing for in this direction.

That rounds up the Democratic candidates. I'll write about the Republicans and their feelings soon.