It appears that the crime issue is finally being seriously raised in the presidential campaign. This story from Alexander Mooney at CNN reports that Rudy Giuliani has recorded a "robocall" saying "Obama opposes 'mandatory prison sentences for sex offenders, drug dealers, and murderers.'" The story further says the Obama campaign had no immediate comment but quotes the campaign web site with a statement that appears to be a blanket opposition to all mandatory minimums.
Mandatory minimums are a controversial topic, and there certainly are some individual statutes in this area that need to be reexamined. However, some mandatory minimums are clearly necessary. In California many years ago, we actually had to enact a statute known as "use a gun, go to prison" to stop judges from granting probation for armed robbery. Such statutes should not be necessary, but long, painful experiences demonstrates that they are.
A blanket opposition to all mandatory minimums, including for murder, is indeed an extreme position and quite legitimately characterized as "soft on crime."
On a related note, this AP story is headlined that their poll shows the race has tightened, and the first paragraph says the candidates are essentially even. Meanwhile, a WSJ story is headlined that Obama has opened up a double-digit lead. Wildly differing polls? Nope, just wildly differing emphasis. Both polls show a 10-point spread in registered voters, but the AP-GfK poll shows a mere 1-point spread in the voters it considers "likely."
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