Promises, Promises

Presidential candidates vow daily to enact (pricey) legislation that will usher in an era of peace, prosperity and guilt-free eating. And while their most earnest vows often come a cropper after the transition from campaigning to governing (remember President Clinton's stimulus package and universal-health-care plan?), it's worth looking at the costs of such pledges. President George W. Bush, who promised a massive tax cut, pursued it with single-mindedness once in office. NEWSWEEK crunches the numbers on the top candidates' top priorities:

THE CANDIDATES
How They Want to Spend Your Money

BARACK OBAMA: Obamanomics is a lot like Rubinomics, which the Clintonites favored in the '90s. It would boost taxes on high earners (by letting Bush income-tax cuts expire) to fund targeted tax cuts for the middle class and new spending on health care; redeploy funding from Iraq to the war on domestic woe, and possibly lift the cap on the payroll tax to shore up Social Security.

Health Care*
$240 Billion
Obama would let individuals and small companies buy health-care benefits similar to the ones that members of Congress get. (He'd mandate coverage for children.) Families that couldn't afford rates would be eligible for subsidies, while others would be covered by expanding Medicaid and SCHIP programs.

Education
$75 Billion
He's pitching a refundable $4,000 tax credit on tuition and promising to raise Pell Grants to keep up with inflation. He's pledged $10 billion a year for a Zero-to-Five early-education plan (aiming for universal access to preschool); 40,000 scholarships for teachers, and grants for dropout-prevention programs.

Energy
$60 Billion
Obama's pledged $150 billion over 10 years to transition into the next generation of energy. He'll double funding for research on clean energy, create a Green Jobs Corps and set up a five-year, $50 billion federal Clean Technologies Venture Capital Fund. He'll offset costs by auctioning off rights to emit carbon.