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John McCain’s and Barack Obama’s positions on prescription drug issues are virtually indistinguishable, according to a former Republican congressman and senior drug industry lobbyist.
Former Rep. Jim Greenwood (Pa.) is a centrist Republican who retired in 2004 after six terms in the House to take over the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). He said the group would not endorse Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) or Sen. Obama (D-Ill.) and declined to state his personal preference.
“We will not make an endorsement and, frankly, it is because there are not such great differences between these candidates that it would make sense for us to make such an endorsement,” Greenwood told reporters last week.
“If you look at the presidential candidates, we conclude that they’ve both said some pretty good things about biotechnology,” Greenwood said. “Both candidates have also critical things to say about the drug industry in general, and they have supported a couple of policies we do not support,” he added.
The pharmaceutical industry, of which biotechnology companies are an important part, typically has aligned politically with the GOP. In addition, Greenwood and McCain were co-members of the centrist Republican Main Street Partnership during Greenwood’s years in Congress.
In 2008, however, the drug industry is finding little to separate the two candidates. In fact, much more of its money is going to Obama.
BIO, the trade organization that represents biotechnology companies, has never endorsed a presidential candidate, a spokeswoman said. BIO’s political action committee (PAC) has not made contributions to any presidential candidate in this campaign, nor during the 2004 race between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
Nevertheless, “It may well be that in another presidential year, the contrasts are so stark” that an endorsement would be necessary, Greenwood said. “[T]hat’s not the case in 2008.”
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