A "The Economy, Stupid" Reprise

In his 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton's campaign strategist James Carville hung a sign in their campaign headquarters in Little Rock, AR with 3 points they wanted to emphasize.

The number 2 point wound up becoming the driving slogan that helped unseat a sitting president:

"The economy, stupid"
This year, the economy was the biggest issue according to voters even before the fallout from sub-prime mortgages and the collapse of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG and 2 very large drops in the stock market in recent days. Economics is not John McCain's strong suit by his own admission. Barack Obama isn't threatening to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, but he can run a few circles around John McCain. He also doesn't have the weight of the Bush legacy and 2 decades of voting for deregulation to drag around. As the economy plays heavier on voters minds, their votes are more likely to shift toward Obama.

Want to know what the other 2 campaign messages were on the Clinton headquarters sign? Well, number 3 was:

"Don't forget health care"
Twenty six year later and it is still a very hot topic, perhaps outdone only by the economy.

And ringing in at number 1?

"Change vs. more of the same"
Wow, doesn't that sound familiar. If the Clinton's had trademarked that line, Hillary might have received enough royalties from the Obama campaign to pay off her own campaign debt.