Susan-Says

Which Presidential Candidate Best Represents Small Business?

It's Super Tuesday and this is one of the tightest presidential primaries I've seen in a long time. Plus, it's an exciting race because there are a number of firsts. The first woman and the first African-American to have a good chance of winning the White House. The first Morman to run for our country's highest elected office.

For me, the question comes down to which presidential candidate best represents the interests of small business. SBTV.com traveled to Des Moines, Iowa in 2004 to cover the Democratic Presidential Debate. We interviewed candidates and asked them about their small business platform. Most responded with their canned political rhetoric and ignored the question. A few attempted a feeble to design a small business platform on the spot. Senator John Kerry was the one exception.

I haven't had the opportunity to interview any of this year's class of candidates so other than perusing their web sites, watching the debates and listening to stump speeches, I am armed with no greater information than anyone else. All of this makes me wonder why the candidates don't formulate a comprehensive small business platform that pulls together their positions on the many issues that impact small businesses. In his run for the White House, Senator John Kerry created an area on his presidential campaign web site dedicated to small business. Think about how many small businesses there are, and yet we have to work to find out exactly where the candidates stand. So what do you think? Who would best represent small business in the White House?

We created a poll on SBTV.com asking that very question. So far here's the ranking so far.

Hillary Clinton         8.7%

John McCain            4.3%

Barack Obama     38.7%

Mike Huckabee     20%

Mitt Romney 20%

John Edwards 7.5%

If you haven't taken our poll yet, make sure you log on to let your voice be heard. You'll find the poll on our homepage. If doesn't appear immediately, refresh your browser because our polls rotate.

Also, please share any comments you have about the candidates. And listen to the podcast WIPP did recently with First Lady hopeful Michelle Obama and e-Bay's Meg Whitman representing the Romney campaign. Also, watch remarks from Senator Hillary Clinton at the WIPP conference. 

Published Feb 05 2008, 06:13 PM by Susan Wilson Solovic
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Comments

 

Presidential election 2008 |Republicans Vs. Democrats » Which Presidential Candidate Best Represents Small Business? said:

Pingback from  Presidential election 2008 |Republicans Vs. Democrats » Which Presidential Candidate Best Represents Small Business?

February 5, 2008 7:32 PM
 

Rush on Business said:

Super Tuesday is behind us and neither party has its nominee although John McCain may be very close to securing his party's nomination soon. So my question is which presidential candidate do you believe will best represent the interests of...

February 7, 2008 6:06 AM

About Susan Wilson Solovic

Susan Wilson Solovic’s career in broadcast and print journalism, with a focus on small business, spans 25 years. She is an Emmy award winning corporate television producer, a former news reporter for NBC and CBS affiliates, a former featured columnist for UPI on businesswomen issues and a best-selling author of The Girls’ Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business (published October, 2007), The Girls’ Guide to Power and Success, Reinvent Your Career: Attain the Success You Deserve and Desire; and Hanging onto the American Dream. She has been an adjunct professor of Women’s Entrepreneurial Studies at St. Louis Community College. In 2000, the Small Business Administration recognized her as a leading small business journalist. In addition to her CEO and anchor duties at SBTV.com, Susan is a frequent columnist for publications such as Enterprising Women, a frequent on-camera small business expert for Bloomberg, CNN, CNN/fn, Early Today Show on NBC, World News this Morning on ABC and is frequently quoted in Cosmopolitan magazine on career advice for young women. Susan can often be seen as a keynote speaker, emcee, panelist or moderator at many conferences such as:

  • National Association of Women Business Owners
  • Women Business Enterprise National Council
  • New York Times Small Business Summit
  • Business Marketing Association
  • Women Impacting Public Policy
  • National Women’s Business Council

Prior to leading SBTV.com, Susan created a series of satellite television programs focused on women entrepreneurs in the United States and Canada. Susan is an attorney licensed to practice in the state of Missouri and previously served as the Vice President of Corporate Marketing for ITT Commercial Finance, an international asset-based lending institution which had $28 billion in finance volume. Susan has served on numerous boards including the National Business Women’s Council, the Women Presidents’ Organization National Advisory Board of Directors and the inaugural board of directors of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP). She is a member of the Board of Directors of the John F. Cook School of Business, Entrepreneurial Studies program at Saint Louis University. She served as a member of the John F. Kennedy School of Government Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard University until 2004. Susan holds a B.A. in history and political science from Columbia College and a JD from Saint Louis University.

Susan is a frequent guest on numerous mass media venues.
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