Who's Got Game? Candidates on Sports

Sports and public policy have intersected over the last few years in several areas. Some of the most contentious debate has been about the interpretation and enforcement of the athletics aspects of Title IX, the 1972 law that bans sex discrimination at schools that receive federal funds. Some of the most notable recent sports stories have risen from federal prosecutions related to performance-enhancing drugs.

(ABC News Photo Illustration)

USA Today's David Jackson, Kathy Kiely and Jill Lawrence asked the presidential campaigns about both issues. Here are the presidential candidates' responses to questions on performance-enhancing drugs and Title IX (answers are presented in alphabetical order):

1. The Bush administration has taken an active role in attacking the possession, use and distribution of performance enhancing drugs, including President Bush's mention of them in the 2004 State of the Union message and the increased attention the Justice Department has been paying to prosecutions in this area. How would your administration approach this issue?

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Clinton: Senator Clinton sees our sports leagues as public trusts and our sports heroes as key public role models for our children, and believes in the importance of promoting clean, drug-free professional sports. In her view, leagues should take the lead in vigorously enforcing their own strict drug policies, but if we were to see frequent and flagrant continued abuse of performance-enhancing drugs by professional athletes, she would certainly speak out against it as president and consider appropriate federal action.

McCain: Since the beginning of the steroids scandals John McCain has consistently said that the important aspect of the issue is not the well-being of the multi-million dollar professional athletes who choose to use banned substances to cheat themselves and their sport, but rather the effects these substances are having on our youth. In a simple point and click, our children today are able to obtain illegal performance-enhancing substances on the Internet in just a few days. The use of these substances among adolescents in the U.S. has reached epidemic proportions and the health effects of usage are devastating — leading to depression, suicide, stunted growth, and the deterioration of the liver, kidneys, bones, and reproductive organs. We have every reason to believe that what kids are doing indubitably will show up in doctor's offices 15 years from now, so John McCain believes it is imperative that we act now.