The economy campaign

Adam Nagourney:

Not since at least 1980, when the United States was reeling from the oil shocks, inflation and slow growth of the previous decade, has the economy been in worse shape heading into the heart of a presidential campaign. The crush of bad economic news — six consecutive months of job losses, rising rates of home foreclosures, gasoline prices seemingly headed toward $5 a gallon — is increasingly setting the contours of the race between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain.

Both candidates plan to spend this week focusing almost entirely on the economy. But both face political problems with the issue.

Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, has been shadowed by his statements earlier in the campaign that he is not expert in the subject of the economy and by the likelihood that voters will associate him with the economic policies of the Bush administration. He has embraced President Bush’s stands on central issues like tax cuts and trade policy.

Mr. Obama, Democrat of Illinois, has had difficulty connecting with working-class voters, and his more ambitious responses to economic problems like expanding access to health insurance would be paid for in part by tax increases, always a risky proposition.

The two campaigns are retooling strategies and preparing for what aides said would be months of economic speeches, town-hall-style meetings on the economy and economic proposals, both new and repackaged — testimony to how the campaigns view the electoral environment.

“We are going to spend the rest of the summer talking about jobs, energy and health care,” said Charlie Black, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain. He said Mr. McCain would prefer that the campaign focus on national security, given his credentials in that area, “but that’s just not the way the world works.”

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Mr. McCain is set to announce on Monday morning that 300 economists are endorsing his economic proposals, which include tax cuts, expanded trade and a pledge to veto bills with earmarks. His aides said the endorsements, mostly by conservative economists, would help him establish his credentials in this area. Mr. McCain will spend the week talking about job creation in hard-pressed battleground states, a contrast with his decision to spend last week in Latin America, a move that even some of his allies said risked having him seem unconcerned with the problems at home.

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It is interesting that the Democrats have endorsed the Hoover administration's policy of raising taxes and cutting free trade in a time of economic slowdown. On top of that the Democrat's anti energy policy that is based on drilling for conservation and hoping for a miracle has resulted in the high gas prices they desire.

The Democrats are so wrong on both issues that it is surprising that they are still favored in this election. I think it is mainly because Republicans have done such a poor job until recently in attacking them on these issues. It will take more to get the voters to realize just how bad Democrat "change" will be for America.