For previous Questions of the Election, see Part I and Part II.
We have no choice, really, but to take the candidates at face value in their propositions for the American people. To do anything but that would be to descend into conspiracy theory and conjecture--the depths of which I am not willing to explore just yet. So with that face value caveat, where do the candidates place their emphasis? From their campaign websites, I draw the following headlines. first from today's Romney campaign (no links, because they change almost daily):
Americans deserve more jobs and more take home pay. Read Mitt's 5-point plan...
and now from today's Obama campaign:
We don't turn back. We pull each other up. We leave no one behind.
What does that mean, exactly? It is the campaign of personality, of compassionate soundbites, or the Oprah-fying of America. To be fair, the Obama website has a series of rotating policy initiatives below that headline, the first of which is "President Obama's Plan for the Economy" (see footnote)*. If you click on "The Presidents Vision" you get this interesting list:
- Strengthening our education system.
- More, cleaner energy.
- Leading through innovation.
- Job-creating infrastructure.
- Fair, simple tax reform.
Not jobs? Not "the economy, stupid" as James Carville put it to Bill Clinton in 1992? Not our relationship to the world/protection from terrorism at home?
With that in mind, the third question of this presidential election is:
What is the one overriding issue on which this election should turn?
For me the most critical graph of the campaign, and the one which should dominate the debate, is this one:

* The others are: "Lead the World in College Graduates by 2020," "Invest in Clean Energy Made in America," "Spur Innovation," "Rebuild American Infrastructure," and "Reform the Tax Code to Tackle the Deficit." This is an interesting choice of things to highlight as your key policy initiatives.
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