No Really, It Is The Economy Stupid

The ABC/Facebook debates last night were interesting to watch. The smaller crowd of candidates made for more engagement between the candidates.

Mitt Romney was a sure loser on the Republican side, looking hurt at times by the, to him, unfair badgering asides other candidates were making with regards to his changing positions. If America wants change, they're sure to get that with Romney's ever changing positions, McCain made sure to point out.

On the Democratic side Clinton tried to differentiate herself from Obama and Edwards regarding experience. Obama made the point that leadership and oration are important to inspire Americans to do the things needed for change to happen. Edwards spoke passionately about taking on the entrenched special interests and lobbyists that are against change and perhaps did the best for himself in the debate.

However, after all was said and done, a couple of Facebook polls answering the question, "Which issue do you wish the candidates spent more time on?" remind us that too little was said about the issue I think is foremost of concern to American voters this year: the economy.

The Democratic version of the poll yielded 42% of respondents stating that the economy was the issue they wanted to hear more about. Iraq lagged the environment, healthcare and immigration (which was not addressed by questions to the Democratic candidates).

On the Republican side the economy was the top issue people wanted to hear more about at 48%, well ahead the other topics.

These days this blog seems to be particularly popular with people looking at postings I've written long ago about a looming recession and the price of oil. These are issues that hit home even more than the cost of the Iraq debacle. Every candidate running for Congress or President would do well to keep that in mind.