The Economist December 1st 2007 - Online Public Access Catalog

Concerning Pakistan, all the candidates deplore General Pervez Musharraf's declaration of martial law.But the Republicans tend to take a softer line on what to do about it, since Pakistan is an ally against al-Qaeda.Overall, the two parties have much in common. Neither will put much pressure on Israel, nor move asfast to curb global warming as Europeans demand. Most candidates of both parties want to increase thesize of the armed forces. But their differences do matter. The Democrats are more protectionist, thoughMrs Clinton's promise of “a little time-out” on trade deals commits her to little. The Republicans are morecomfortable with using force, and likely to stay longer in Iraq. And Mr Giuliani is far more bellicose thanany other candidate. But as to competence, that depends on the individual candidate—and, since none ofthe leaders has much of a foreign-affairs record, voters will have to guess about that.Copyright © 2007 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.