Both campaigns "defer a lot of costs in this area," said David Gray, director of the Workplace and Family Program for the New America Foundation, a think tank in Washington, D.C. "It's much more difficult to compare the cost-benefit" than with, say, health care.

Gray, who said it was "significant that you have a Republican doing anything in this area," noted that McCain's proposed commission would cost little to establish, and "if you don't implement any recommendations, there's no cost."

In contrast, he says, "Obama has very real numbers: The most conservative is north of $1.6 billion, and it's fair to say it's a lot higher. Here you have one candidate who has very direct solutions and one who has indirect solutions, and we won't know what they are until the recommendations" come through. LINK