With the capital markets in turmoil, the U.S. presidential election is taking on added importance. What do VCs want and which of the major party candidates for president can deliver?

According to the National Venture Capital Association, the policy-related issues that interest VCs most are the problems of the capital markets, the future of capital gains, healthcare reform, and cleantech.

The VC community is experiencing its own capital markets crisis. Initial public offerings, a key way for VCs to recoup their investments in startups, have slowed to a trickle. In fact for the first time in 30 years, there were no VC-backed IPOs in the second quarter of 2008.

Another major issue for VCs is the expiration of the capital gains tax in 2010. The NVCA, a VC trade association, has been lobbying for the status quo. The group wants the government to keep the current 15 percent rate for carried interest.

VCs and the high tech industry in general want a seat at the table on health care reform policy. The tech industry is focused on promoting innovation in the delivery of health care data, an aspect of the medical field that has proven remarkably resistant to information technology.

The VC community also wants to have a say on long-term cleantech policy, not only on tax breaks but also on innovation policy in the cleantech sector.

Neither candidate addresses the capital markets’ problems head-on, but both list capital gains as part of their broader innovation agendas.  

Sen. McCain promises to promote innovation largely through tax incentives. Sen. Obama promises to make the R&D tax credit permanent.

“It is still unclear what the root causes of the capital markets problems are, but there is need for some restoring of the stability and credibility of the markets,” said Robert Atkinson, president of Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.

On health care reform, Sen. McCain’s plan will tax individuals for the amount of their insurance paid by their employers but will offer refundable tax credits. The changes suggested in his plan are incremental.

Sen. Obama promises an overhaul of health care insurance with a public plan to cover the uninsured and a consumer subsidy for private alternatives. He plans to spend $50 billion on health care information technology.

On cleantech, both candidates will increase government R&D spending, but Sen. Obama goes further. He promises $150 billion in spending on clean energy programs.