By Karmel Graham, 17, Westchester HS

“Presidential candidates. Presi-dential campaigns. Accep-tance speeches. News conferences. Who cares about them, right? Whatever Bill Clinton and Bob Dole have to say doesn’t concern teenagers anyway, right? Wrong. It is time that we open our eyes and see how our next President feels about issues that affect us. Take a look at the following summary drawn from the LA Times, Kids Advocate, Democratic and Repub-lican websites.

Bill Clinton
Abortion
• Supports abortion. Says abortion should be safe, legal and rare. Believes that abortion should be up to “a woman, her doctor and her God.” Would emphasize education, prevention, personal responsibility and adoption.
Crime and public safety
• Introduced ’94 crime bill which provided funds for crime prevention including programs like midnight basketball.
• Believes that trials for minors who commit crimes should be held in special juvenile courts and minor’s criminal records should be confidential.
• Wants curfews for teens.
Gun Control
• Supported and signed the assault weapons ban.
• Fought for Brady Bill which restricts purchase of handguns.
Minimum wage
• Signed an increase of the minimum wage to $5.15 an hour within two years.
Immigration
• Opposed anti-immigrant initiative Prop. 187 and supports allowing children of undocumented immigrants to attend public schools.
Affirmative Action
• Opposes Prop. 209 (California Civil Rights Initiative) and supports affirmative action.
Teen Smoking
• Started a campaign to discourage teen smoking by banning cigarette vending machines and restricting cigarette ads on billboards.
Gay Rights
• Though he has appointed gay people to federal positions and endorsed federal protections for gays, he opposes gay marriage. Partially lifted the ban on gays in the military with the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Bob Dole
Abortion
• Opposes abortion. Would restrict abortion unless the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother, or is the result of rape or incest.
Crime and public safety
• Opposed Clinton’s crime bill, saying it’s a waste of money to fund programs like midnight
basketball.
• When minors commit violent crimes, they should be tried as adults, Dole said. Minor’s criminal records should remain on their records when they become adults.
Gun Control
• Opposes the assault weapons ban, but has shifted postion on how important it is to repeal it.
• Opposed Brady Bill which restricts purchase of handguns.
Minimum Wage
• Fought Democrats’ efforts to raise the minimum wage but eventually said it should be increased.
Immigration
• Supported anti-immigrant initiative Prop. 187 and opposes allowing children of undocumented immigrants to attend public schools.
Affirmative Action
• Supports Prop. 209 (California Civil Rights Initiative) and opposes affirmative action
Teen Smoking
• Has downplayed the dangers of smoking in his campaign.
Gay Rights
• Opposes gay marriages. Opposes lifting the ban on gays in the military.”