Where does John McCain stand on technology issues?

A proponent of new, private technology initiatives

Often departing from the Bush administration's position on the environment and energy, Sen. McCain has taken some progressive stances, often citing his roots in his native Arizona.

In the effort that first brought him together with then-Democrat, now-Independent, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), McCain co-authored the Climate Stewardship Act in 2003, the Senate's most innovative effort to date in helping businesses to curb greenhouse gas emissions. As of today, that bill remains under deliberation in Congress, though the basic cap-and-trade system received accolades early on from Sen. Joseph Biden, and later from Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

In this "cap-and-trade" system, companies would be dealt certain emissions limits on various carbons, like trading cards. They would then be allowed to trade up, lifting caps on emissions of some gasses over a given period, in exchange for stronger emissions caps for other gasses.

President Bush expressed disapproval for the concept from the beginning, supporting instead a system that gave more lenient, but stable, emissions caps across the board. Too stringent caps, Mr. Bush argued, would give production advantages to overseas competitors. In April 2008, Mr. Bush appeared at first to reverse himself on this issue, until an agreement between the administration and Congress revealed that the cap-and-trade sections had been quietly removed.

Most recently, Sen. McCain proposed a contest to award the developer of a more efficient car battery to power hybrid and electric cars.

$300 million would be given to the winner, to be paid by the taxpayer. On top of that, a $5,000 tax credit would be offered to those who purchase hybrid vehicles. While some of his opponents have dismissed it as a "gimmick," some experts say tax credits would be a more viable solution than taxing gas guzzling vehicles.

A supporter of telco immunity, until time to vote

Where Sen. McCain did side with the President, at least in principle, was with regard to his support for amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, enabling limited, so-called "warrantless wiretapping." Sen. Obama showed early opposition to those amendments, as did Sen. Joe Biden and Sen. Hillary Clinton; though among these Democrats, only Obama eventually changed his position to support a compromise.

This support apparently did not translate enough into a "yea" vote: When it came time to vote on the bill, John McCain did not show.

A supporter of simplified merger review

While ostensibly, Sen. McCain has taken a strong public stance in favor of enforcement of antitrust legislation, back in 1999, he co-authored a proposal to strip the Federal Communications Commission of its power to review telecommunications mergers.

Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and John Ashcroft (R-Mo., prior to serving as US Attorney-General), joined McCain in introducing a bill which would have allowed such mergers to only require Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission review. It would have also given tax breaks to larger telecom service providers who sell their assets to smaller ones, as a means of promoting diversity in service ownership.

That bill ended up dying in 2002, after McCain attempted for the final time to introduce it to the chamber.

An advocate for protecting intellectual property

Sen. McCain also holds strong positions on what has become another hot-button issue in technology: intellectual property and patents. He supports providing more resources to the US Patent Office, in the form of more staff at the agency -- which would help to expedite patent reviews. It also seems that McCain could be open to curtailing patent lawsuits, which he claims stifles innovation.

The senator would also work to ensure that intellectual property is protected worldwide, advocating agreements with other nations that would help protect the interests of US IP rights holders, including keeping the rights to their work when sold or produced overseas.

[M.E.'s NOTE: Cross your fingers. BetaNews has heard from the press office of Gov. Sarah Palin, which says it is working on responses to our inquiry regarding her positions and record on technology issues. We've already reported on Sen. Joe Biden, the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee. So we're reporting on Gov. Palin tomorrow, one way or the other.]