• While Governor in Massachusetts Romney filed a bill to
reinstate the death penalty for deadly acts of terrorism, killing
sprees and murders involving torture and the killings of law
enforcement personnel.

• The bill called for substantial scientific evidence such
as DNA verification to sentence someone to death.

• The bill also called for a proper representation for the
indigent from a certified pool of lawyers. It also allowed jurors
who were not supporters of the death penalty to partake in the
guilt phase of the trial.

• He described the bill as a gold standard or model for
the nation in case of capital punishment and said it would give
the state a foolproof death penalty.

• Mitt Romney favors the death penalty in cases of heinous
crimes such as first degree homicides.

• Romney said that the ultimate penalty should be
available in Massachusetts for criminals who commit the most
egregious murders.

• He supports judges who are tough on crime and advocated
tough sentencing for violent offenders and also is for the 'three
strikes' policy.

• Romney did say that the provisions in his bill could not
always rule out wrongful convictions.

• Romney's capital punishment bill turned out to be a
political disaster later on.  The bill was widely opposed and
defeated and Mitt Romney was accused of working towards it to
further his 2008 presidential ambitions.
		

• 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.