Public swing of opinion against the death penalty be damned.

The USA, or its Corporatocratic "leaders" rather, must keep the death penalty in order to harden the population to all sorts of OTHER killing...in "wars", work safety violations, unjustified police shootings, the violence bred by the "drug war", industrial pollution, denial of true public health care, mountaintop removal coal mining, highway proliferation, contaminated products, and on and on.

The death penalty issue has not been raised much, if at all, in the Prez horse race...not even on "public" broadcasting. So, here's a bit of what can be found.

Hillary Clinton: supports Death Penalty:
pewforum.org/religion08/compare.php
Google "Hillary Clinton death penalty" for much more.

Barak Obama: supports (for "most heinous crimes"), supports "reform", voted to punish countries that won't return suspects to the USA because of the death penalty, etc.
pewforum.org/religion08/compare.php

Mitt Romney: Gung ho for death penalty: www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/04/29/romney_files_death_penalty_bill/

John McCain: More death penalty, stricter sentencing, more prisons, etc. www.ontheissues.org/Domestic/John_McCain_Crime.htm

Mike Huckabee: Supports the death penalty, but "doesn't like it". www.ontheissues.org/2008/Mike_Huckabee_Crime.htm

Ron Paul: Now opposes death penalty...because of too many mistakes:
www.ontheissues.org/Ron_Paul.htm

Mike Gravel: (Still in the race, by the way.) Has opposed it, but says little about the issue. www.ontheissues.org/2008/Mike_Gravel_Crime.htm

Cynthia McKinney: Against Death penalty...and against the Bill Clinton denial of habeas to death row inmates.
www.ontheissues.org/GA/Cynthia_McKinney.htm