After nearly two solid years of townhall meetings, campaign speeches and wall-to-wall coverage by the national punditry, we know just about everything we ever possibly could have wanted to know about how many houses Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) owns, about every sermon Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) sat through at his local church, and every fashion choice their spouses have made in their pursuits of First Ladyhood. Unfortunately, despite saturation coverage of every minute detail of their daily lives, there's not much clarity on exactly how either of the two major party's candidates would govern as president of the United States. And we certainly haven't heard much from them about what role government should play in promoting the growth of the manufacturing industry.

What follows, then, is an IndustryWeek summary of Senator McCain's and Senator Obama's positions on a number of manufacturing-oriented issues, as furnished by the candidates' campaigns. We have edited their comments to remove any references to their opponents, or to the current or previous occupants of the Oval Office. The goal here is to offer you some clarity in the voting booth when trying to decide which candidate is most in tune with the manufacturing industry.

Election Day is Nov. 4. See you at the polls.

On Government Investment Projects

Obama: Obama will create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to identify and invest in the most compelling advanced manufacturing strategies. The Fund will have a peer-review selection and award process based on the Michigan 21st Century Jobs Fund, a state-level initiative that has awarded over $125 million to Michigan businesses with the most innovative proposals to create new products and new jobs in the state.

The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) works with manufacturers across the country to improve efficiency, implement new technology and strengthen company growth. This highly successful program has engaged in more than 350,000 projects across the country and in 2006 alone, helped create and protect over 50,000 jobs. Obama will double funding for the MEP so its training centers can continue to bolster the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers.

"There is no easier or more direct way to prove to the world that we will no longer be subject to the whims of others than to expand our [energy] production capabilities." -- Senator John McCain

McCain: McCain's Lexington Project will address the rising costs of energy that are hurting small businesses. He strongly supports increased domestic exploration of oil and natural gas. This will send a strong signal to oil markets that future supplies will be more plentiful, countering the rise in oil prices. The market for natural gas is less internationally integrated than that of oil -- increased domestic production will lower the cost of this key energy source. The Project will transform electricity generation. McCain has set the goal of building 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030 -- creating 700,000 jobs and providing cheap electricity. It will provide incentives for the production of electricity from renewable sources. Finally, the Lexington Project will devote $2 billion annually to research that will allow the clean use of our most plentiful and low-cost energy source: coal.

John McCain as president would push for a renewed emphasis on innovation through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) where industry and government enter into public/private projects, sharing in the cost, benefiting from solving real problems, accelerating the application of technology in the government. This way the government is a leader of the technology revolution and not simply a beneficiary.

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