With the number of AIDS cases in the US rising in some segments of the population, and going underreported for the last five years, where do the two presidential candidates stand on what CBS News reported last night as "the forgotten epidemic?"

Under President George Bush, the US has made an aggressive push to bring medications and prevention education to developing countries.

We're spending billions in Africa, CBS reported, but less than a billion annually in American cities where the number of AIDS cases - after a brief period of leveling off - has increased.

Several factors are said to be causing the increase in infections: relaxed commitments to safe-sex practices, inadequate education, and prevention messages that aren't reaching their intended audiences are partly to blame.

Attitudes in the high-risk groups have changed as medications have improved - leading many people to think that AIDS is not that big of a problem anymore.

This couldn't be further from the truth.

The average cost of medication and years of treatment for people living with AIDS is estimated to be in the area of $225,000.

That's one of the reasons why Senator Obama says that he favors a thorough evaluation of the nation's AIDS treatment and prevention policy. A new comprehensive strategy for reducing infections is needed, he says.

McCain advocates more of the same - abstinence-only education - an approach that has proven to be less effective.

Considering that his vice-presidential pick is a mother of a pregnant teen, it would seem that the inadequacies of abstinence-only messages are rather obvious.