come on over here, have a cigar, boy.

If you look at the candidates in the 2008 election, it certainly seems like a mixed bag.

Both McCain and Obama should properly be called moderates, though they support significant amounts of the party's platforms, there are notable omissions and deviations: McCain opposes a constitutional amendment barring gay marriage, Obama supports sanctions against iraq and has not come down strongly against the possibility of a military intervention there, McCain is against ANWAR oil drilling and Obama is for the death penalty...

So in light of this it's not easy to say that the candidates are agents of their parties, but they certainly have a certain degree of party loyalty, after all Obama's voting record shows he's heavily towed the party line, then again his transformation from junior senator into presidential candidate may have changed that.

As I discussed a few posts back, I think the ease of cross-checking using internet sources makes that a little more difficult for politicians. Gone are the days when "tailgunner Joe" McCarthy could get away with a false military record by sheer effrontery. Now candidates must maintain a higher degree of truthfulness and consistency, or it will bite them squarely in the kiester.


Looking at a local election, things get a little more clear. To pick a candidate I knew nothing about I selected Rep. David Camp, from Michigan's 4th district (Rep). He voted the party line.
Entirely. In an era where abortion is a lock-stock-and-barrel owned issue for democrats, he's still running on it, his opposition to gay marrage, union or anti-discrimination laws mirrors the core of the party's rightest-wing. There is no deviation at all.
But I'm not sure that this is going to help him much, sure he's ideologically observant, but it's a bad time to be a republican, and after the utter implosion of the Bush-boosting neocon movement an even worse time to try to push on moral issues as a republican. No credibility left.
So while he's being far more party-aligned than his presidential candidate partymate, I think it's probably going to do far more damage than anything unless the 4th district happens to be an evangelical haven that somehow still supports bushism.