Obama & McCain rated on women's econ issues

The Economists' Policy Group, a nationwide network of more than 40 economists today released a report card on how the two presidential candidates are doing on 10 economic issues of importance to women. Not surprisingly Obama does much better than McCain since he has better anti-poverty and health care programs, supports paid sick days and child care expansion, and so on. The two come out closest on health care, where McCain rates a C- and Obama a B-; the group argued that the idea of McCain's tax credit for health care has merit since the refundable credit would make the tax expenditures for health care much more progressive, but without more regulation it might lead to less coverage. Obama's plan at least guarantees universal coverage for all children if not all adults.

Here's the report card. The full report and the list of members of the group can be found on their website, www.epgwi.org.

REPORT CARD McCain Obama
Overall Grade D B
Health Care C- B-
Pay + Employment Equity F B
Retirement Security D B
Taxes D B-
Paid Time Off D B+
Child Care + Early Education D B
Poverty D B
Nontraditional Families C- B+
Domestic Violence D A
Reproductive Rights F A