There were several omissions in the Sun Journal story “McCain or Obama” (Sept. 8).

For instance, on the energy issue, Sen. Barack Obama is calling for a Manhattan-style project to free the U.S. from dependence on foreign oil within 10 years. That would create a wave of new alternative energy jobs (predicted to be between 5 and 7 million across the U.S.), including wind and solar here in Maine.

And as to taxes, while Obama has called for allowing the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans to expire, he has also called for tax breaks for the other 95 percent. The bottom 20 percent of taxpayers, those with taxable income of roughly $19,000 per year or less, would see their taxes cut by an average of $567 under Obama’s program, and $21 under Sen. John McCain’s plan, the Tax Center estimates.

For the 20 percent of taxpayers right in the middle of the income scale, making roughly between $37,600 and $66,400, the tax break would be $1,118 under the Obama plan and $325 under the McCain plan in 2009, according to the analysis done by the Tax Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, two Washington think tanks.

After reading what McCain would do to the nation’s health care (pretty much removing business-sponsored plans for everyone and leaving employees to find their own insurance), I don’t think I need to go there, do I?

Chandler McGrew, Bethel