Super Tuesday is coming on, well, Tuesday. Twenty four states and American Samoa will hold primary elections or primary caucuses for Democrats and Republicans. And while the horse-race watchers obsess over which candidate will be most electable, LLFCC has kept track of their positions on broadcasting and telecommunications related issues.

Democrats

Of all of the contenders for the Democratic nomination, John Edwards had the most clear and comprehensive set of positions on Federal Communications Commission related matters. Unfortunately, the former United States Senator has withdrawn from the race.

Candidate Edwards repeatedly pledged to strengthen rather than weaken the FCC's media ownership rules. "Edwards believes extreme media consolidation threatens free speech," his media page declares, "tilts the public dialogue towards corporate priorities and away from local concerns, and makes it increasingly difficult for women and minorities to own a stake in our media."

Edwards also promised to strengthen public interest requirements for broadcasters, including disability access requirements. Edwards said that he supports net neutrality. And he assured voters that he would lift restrictions on the licensing of Low Power FM radio stations.

Congressmember Dennis Kucinich, who has also withdrawn from the race, also supported net neutrality and opposed the relaxation of the agency's media ownership rules. Kucinich has been a strong supporter of locally controlled, public access television and Low Power FM radio.

Four candidates with clear records on the issues remain in the field.

Illinois Senator Barack Obama's Web site does not include a media page. But Obama did very publicly warn FCC Chair Kevin Martin not to rush through the media ownership rule changes that, in the end, he rushed through. Obama says he supports net neutrality and a wholesale requirement for FCC auctions. As for indecency issues, while Obama did not co-sponsor the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, which greatly boosted fines for obscenity scofflaws, he did not oppose the bill either, which passed the Senate unanimously.

While Hillary Clinton has not said much about media ownership issues, she did support a Senate bill that would require the FCC to slow down on enacting new media ownership rules. She has also supported net neutrality, co-sponsoring the Internet Freedom Preservation Act.

Clinton has come in for some criticism for her support for a non-profit called "Connect America," which Public Knowledge advocate Art Brodsky says has exaggerated its success in bringing broadband to underserved communities. She did not co-sponsor the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, but she did not oppose the bill either.

Republicans

Arizona United States Senator John McCain supports media consolidation. He had a chance to oppose it in 2003, after former FCC Chair Michael Powell dramatically relaxed the agency's media ownership rules. In response, the Senate passed a statement of disapproval of the FCC's actions, declaring that the move would have "no force or effect." McCain voted against the resolution, as did most Republicans.

McCain does, however, support efforts to make it easier to start a Low Power FM radio station. He has also advocated "a la carte" cable reform, which some groups say will facilitate your picking and choosing which cable channels you want to buy, and others say will just ratchet up the price of cable generally, and make it harder for independent channels to survive. Your call on this one.

The Senator very strongly opposes the restoration of the Fairness Doctrine. This policy, which the FCC abandoned in 1987, would, ironically, give McCain the right to appear on and respond to radio stations that broadcast Rush Limbaugh's false assertion that McCain once claimed that torture worked on him while he languished in a North Vietnamese prison.

In June of last year McCain announced that he would submit the "Broadcaster Freedom Act" to the Senate. "The legislation would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from reinstating the 'Fairness Doctrine'," his press release stated, "a regulation that had required broadcasters to present opposing viewpoints on issues of public importance."

As for the rest of the surviving Republicans, it's hard to tell what they think, with the exception of the politically unclassifiable Ron Paul. The Texas Congressmember opposes net neutrality, but that's probably because he opposes practically all government regulation except anti-abortion laws. He also opposes the Patriot Act and has condemned those parts of the Act that have been used to justify the electronic surveillance of Americans. Paul also opposes the Fairness Doctrine and opposes extending indecency laws to cable.

Basically, you name it, Ron Paul's against it, which may be good or bad, depending on your perspective.

As for Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, your guess is as good as LLFCC's. As former state governors, it's harder to track their positions on national broadcasting and telecommunications issues. Both say that they're against indecency on radio and television; no surprise there. One blogger thinks Huckabee supports net neutrality.

BTW: Contrary to what you may think, Hillary Clinton has no public position on the Fairness Doctrine. This, however, has not stopped a veritable battalion of right-wing talk radio hosts from predicting that she secretly supports the policy and will sneak it on us once she's elected President. Of all the Democrats, only Dennis Kucinich says that he supports the restoration of the provision.

That, of course, would be Truly Horrible, possibly even worse than making sure that more children have health insurance.

Good luck on Tuesday.