After well over a year of campaigning, the 2012 election has finally arrived.
Here is a summary of the three foremost candidates for the presidency and the two main cand idates competing to represent Mississippi in the United States Senate.
President Barack Obama is running for re-election to a second term as president. His running mate is Joe Biden, a former senator from Delaware.
Expectations show tax reform will be a centerpiece for a second term in the Obama presidency.
The plan put forth by the Obama campaign said goals for a second term will include lowering taxes on middle class families and raising those of high-income classes.
This is likely to be done by letting the Bush Tax cuts either expire in full or holding the cuts for middle-income families and allowing the cuts for top earners to expire.
If the Bush cuts expire in full, taxes on everyone will go up unless more legislation is enacted.
The Bush Tax cuts are set to expire Dec. 31.
Plans to address the deficit include closing tax loopholes on corporations. The Obama campaign’s plan also said a plan is to use half of the money that had been paid on the Iraq War and using it instead to pay on the debt.
The other half is to be used in infrastructure investment.
For foreign policy, Obama has said repeatedly he plans to bring the Afghanistan War to an end in 2014.
He supports the continued use of heavy sanctions and diplomacy in an effort to deter Iran from its nuclear ambitions, though he has said that all options, including military ones, are on the table.
He is also working with the Department of Defense on plans to make the U.S. military leaner, but more advanced, and also making the Asian Pacific a stronger point of focus for U.S. policy.
Obama ended the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, so now gay men and women can serve openly in the United States military. 
In May, he announced he does support gay marriage and became the first sitting president to ever do so, though his campaign has not made a major push for it during the election cycle.
Under his administration, the Department of Justice does not actively defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage in the U.S. as a union between one man and one woman.
On the issue of abortion, Obama is pro-choice.
Gov. Mitt Romney is Obama’s primary competitor in the presidential election. He is running with Paul Ryan, a senator from Wisconsin.
The centerpiece of the Romney campaign has been job creation.
A point of recent focus has been Gov. Romney’s plan to create 12 million new jobs.
Part of the plan put forward by the Romney campaign is to help foster American job growth by cutting tax rates on businesses to make hiring more attractive.
The plan also said Romney would seek to limit the number of regulations on businesses to allow them to grow more efficiently.
Another point of emphasis in the plan to create jobs through expanding access to America’s natural resources and make the country energy independent in doing so.
Romney opposes the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, and has said repeatedly he will repeal it on the first day of his presidency.
Romney supports letting states decide which ways to handle health care may work best for them and allowing them to institute them, rather than an overarching policy from the federal government.
Romney opposes gay marriage.
The Romney campaign said Romney would uphold the Defense of Marriage Act.
He would also push to add a Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution that would define marriage as being between one man and one woman.
Romney is opposed to abortion and has indicated he would appoint Supreme Court justices who may overturn Roe v Wade.
According to the Romney campaign, Romney intends to be able to complete a withdrawal from Afghanistan and to be able to hand security of the country to the Afghan people by 2014.
This would, however, be contingent on conditions in the country before then.
Romney is strongly opposed to Iran’s nuclear program.
He supports placing increased sanctions on Iran and keeping military options available as a last resort.
Romney also said he will be tough on China and Russia.
He has said if elected, he will move quickly to label China a currency manipulator.
The foremost third-party candidate in the election is Gary Johnson, who is running with James P. Grey, a former judge.
Johnson is running as the candidate for the Libertarian party.
Johnson is in favor of doing away with spending cuts across the board at a federal level and supports changes to social programs like Medicare and Social Security.
He strongly opposes involvement from the federal government in economic affairs and advocates opposition to bailouts, the elimination of the Internal Revenue Service and restrictions on the Federal Reserve.
He also supports the Fair Tax.
Johnson does not favor the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Johnson also advocates bringing home soldiers stationed abroad at bases throughout Europe.
Johnson opposes the war on drugs, calling it a needless and expensive waste of resources.
He does support the legalization and regulation of marijuana.
Like Romney, Johnson is opposed to health care plans at a federal level.
Johnson is pro-choice and supports gay marriage through the belief the government should not interfere with an individual’s right to make their own choices or impose its values on marriage.
Congressman Roger Wicker is on the ballot and running for a second term.
It would be his first full term after winning his seat in a special election in 2008 after Trent Lott’s resignation.
Wicker is a former member of the House of Representatives.
In his time in office, he has worked on initiatives to bring better economic development to Mississippi and to keep the state more competitive in a global marketplace.
He is a member of several committees in the Senate, including the Committee on Armed Services.
Wicker’s main challenger in the Senate race is Albert Gore.
Gore is a former Methodist minister and chaplain with the Armed Forces.
Wicker supports limiting subsidies from the government to help reduce the burden of the debt.
He also supports expanding access to energy resources and investing in alternative energy sources like wind and solar power.
Wicker has said his priority as a senator would be work to build non-partisan coalitions to work together with senators from both parties.