Which presidential candidate is better for wine lovers?

Let me first stipulate that wine is not a great basis for picking a President.

That said, this is a wine blog. Let's try to gaze four years into the future to see which candidate would make wine lovers' lives better. Of course, the main issue is who makes the economy better, because a strong economy means more of us can drink more and better wine.

But let's look at some other issues strictly as they relate to wine.

Barack Obama

Strengths
* Greater support for alternative energy sources could lead to larger subsidies for solar power use -- a boon to wineries, which tend to be in sunny spots. Lower winery costs should mean more and cheaper wine.

Weaknesses
* Less of a free-trade advocate than McCain. Even in small doses, protectionism is bad for fans of European wine. Moreover, the official U.S. trade position in negotiations with the E.U. is usually what Gallo and Korbel want (like the right to call their wine "Burgundy" and "Champagne"), instead of what would benefit U.S. wine drinkers.
* Supports strengthening laws requiring equal access for disabled people -- a real expense for small rural wineries. Some will choose to not open tasting rooms.

John McCain

Strengths
* Wife is a beer distributing tycoon; bound to be sympathetic to large beverage alcohol companies
* Long history of support for deregulation; wine is one of the most regulated industries

Weaknesses
* Wife is a beer distributing tycoon; bound to be sympathetic to large beverage alcohol companies, possibly at the expense of small producers. Likely to vehemently oppose challenges to the three-tier system
* Potential for tougher immigration standards makes wineries dependent on foreign labor nervous. Say what you want about illegal immigrant labor, without it, wine prices will go up and supplies will go down
* Likely to appoint social conservatives to U.S. Supreme Court. Social conservatives frown on alcohol; this could have long-term consequences

So who's better, on balance? It's not obvious to me. McCain has both greater strengths and bigger weaknesses than Obama, who is not an obvious friend to the wine industry or the wine drinker.

McCain is no prude and his wife's fortune came from beer. There's certainly no reason to fear him the way wine drinkers rightly fear the teetotalling social conservatives who support him. At the same time, unless Strom Thurmond returns from the dead, there's nothing worse in Washington for the wine lover (not the wine industry) than a protectionist, and Obama is talking about reopening trade agreements to protect American workers.

I have to go back to the point in the beginning -- who's going to improve the economy the most?

Obama would seem to have a large edge here, and getting larger all the time. McCain has reacted to the economic crisis in unsettling, mercurial ways -- Fire the SEC head! Cancel the debate! -- yet as of this morning he hadn't even read Bush's proposed bailout legislation (or had it read to him, no slight intended as Obama gets briefings too.)

On balance, the wine drinkers' vote, such as it is, probably goes to Obama purely because of his superior grasp of economic issues. But it's just as close a call as the actual election is shaping up to be.