In case you haven't noticed, there's a presidential election coming up in the United States. Many voters have litmus tests by which to judge the candidates. Mine is healthcare reform. But if, as someone who has adopted from Russia or is preparing to adopt from that country, your measuring stick is a candidate's policy on Russia, The Washington Post has a piece that might interest you. (Only two candidates have so far come out with positions on adoption, former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.)

The Post is now featuring a special report compiled by the Council on Foreign Relations that sums up the positions of the many, many candidates in the race right now on U.S. policy toward Russia. Though the United States and Russia celebrated 200 years of diplomatic relations this past year, our two nations haven't been on the best of terms of late. Pick an issue--from Iran to missile defense shields to Kosovo--and Washington and Moscow have been miles apart on it, and fairly hostile to boot.

The Council on Foreign Relation has found position statements from all of the announced candidates--major and minor--with the exception of Rep. Tom Tancredo. It is perhaps no surprise that none of them has particularly warm and fuzzy feelings about Russian President Vladimir Putin, but some seem more strident than others. According to the report, Sen. Joseph Biden, Jr. has been consistently concerned about a weakening of democracy in Russia under Putin. John Edwards said in an April 2007 debate that Russia had become "a complete autocracy" under Putin. Fred Thompson topped that rhetoric, telling the National Review Online that the Russian government is "apparently run by ex-KGB agents".

On the issue of the missile shield, both Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel, who are seeking the democratic nomination, said they would not follow through on President Bush's current plan. Several of the Republican candidates are in favor of the missile shield, including Giuliani, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Arizona Senator John McCain. "I don't care what [Putin's] objections are to it," McCain said in a Republican candidate debate this past October.

As I said, it's only one lens through which to view the election.

Image credit: Xandert at Morguefile.com