• Mike Huckabee has been accused of dodging the issue of
Capital Punishment; at times supporting and at times going
against the issue.

• While Governor of the state of Arkansas, he is said to
have carried out the death penalty sixteen more times than any
other state governor.

• At the same time Huckabee oversaw a number of pardons
and commutations of prisoners. He justified it by saying this was
to get them into the workforce.

• Huckabee said that as much as he didn't like the death
penalty, he had to carry it out in his state since it was part of
his job and this he did after reading every transcript and page
in the file and said he certainly didn't enjoy it. In fact he is
said to have hated every minute of it.

• He opined that it was a necessary part of our criminal
justice system for those crimes for which there is no
alternative. But he did say that it was the worst job he had to
carry out as governor.

• Huckabee said to support the Death penalty biblically as
well as politically.

• He feels he always did the right thing whenever he gave
the last word on all the executions he signed for saying that
this right was justified against moral absolutes in the midst of
an imperfect world.

• The Washington Post in its main political blog once
commented - Mike Huckabee has nothing to say about the fact that
the death penalty is disproportionately carried out in case of
African Americans, that decisions to apply it are formed from
careless investigations in crime labs and a host of other issues
surrounding this gruesome procedure.
		

• Obama once opined that the system of investigating and
prosecuting capital crimes was so flawed that the nation should
declare a moratorium on executions, like the one imposed in
Illinois.

• He made a statement in 2004 saying that he supported the
death penalty for certain crimes though he does not support how
it is administered.

• Obama seems to support capital punishment in certain
cases where it is considered absolutely essential. This he
attributes to cases where the crime committed is so outrageous
that the law has no other way to show its outrage except to carry
out the ultimate punishment. As examples he listed mass murders,
the rape and murder of a child etc.

• Obama made a significant effort to establish mandatory
taping of interrogations and confessions. Obama firmly believes
that no innocent victim should end up on death row and at the
same time no guilty person should go free. He made all attempts
to get the bill on the said issue approved, and his state
Illinois was the first to require taping by statute.

• Obama voted no for mandatory killing of gang members who
kill cops.

• In his book 'Audacity of Hope' he says he saw little
evidence that the death penalty is a deterrent.

• Death penalty opponents have a hope that Obama will lend
a sympathetic ear to them despite his support for the limited use
of executions. Their hope is that he will use more safeguards in
Federal cases and eventually spare some prisoners.