In the US presidential elections, the ‘economy’ has clearly overtaken other important issues, like the war in Iraq. It appears the economic issues are the main concern on minds of the voters. In their respective campaign appearances, both the leading presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, ‘traded’ accusations over economic issues.

Speaking in Charlotte, North Carolina, Obama aptly used McCain’s own words against him, trying to bring home the point that the Republican is part of the mind-set that brought about the crisis on Wall Street, and cannot be depended upon to fix the problem. Clarifying further, Obama said that McCain’s past support for deregulating financial institutions played its part in creating the economic crisis. He also added that McCain wants to keep the U.S. economy headed down the same catastrophic path.

During an appearance at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida, Obama commented, “There’s only one candidate who’s called himself ‘fundamentally a deregulator’ when deregulation is part of the problem.”  

McCain, on the other hand, has been battling to differentiate himself from the unpopular Republican president, George W. Bush and his economic policies. With the growing concern of voters about financial crisis, he is also trying to square his long history of advocating deregulation - the sort of loose controls many people blame for the turmoil on Wall Street. He now says more controls are needed to prevent a repeat of the turmoil that sent the stock market plunging.

In fact, McCain’s campaign has accused Obama of using ‘scare tactics’ to win over the voters. In his counter attack, the Republican has blamed Obama of contributing to the economic problem by accepting campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage companies recently rescued by a government takeover.
Reacting to the accusation, Obama said at a rally in Jacksonville: “His solution was to blame me for it. I would say Senator McCain is a little panicked.”

Amidst the ‘battle’ of accusations, national polls indicate that since the market upheaval, McCain’s edge in the U.S. presidential race has slipped. According to a daily tracking survey, Obama, with 50% was ahead of McCain’s 44%, though a day before stocks took a dive, McCain and Obama were in a statistical dead heat - with McCain’s 47% against Obama’s 45%.