theboard::The Board::It's the Economy Again, Stupid. (Maybe).

Everyone has their theory about how the presidential election is going to play out. Some people think Barack Obama — lately dubbed “The One” — is on his way to being anointed. Other prognosticators argue that despite the Republican Party’s woes, the nation is still essentially conservative, and will end up backing John McCain. Some people think it all comes down to Ohio Then there are the social scientists, who have their own ways of trying to foretell the political future. Many of them argue for forgetting the polls suggesting that Mr. McCain is closing in on Mr. Obama. Social science suggests that given the dismal state of the economy, barring some freakish political accident the Democrats could field a cardboard box in November and still beat any Republican. In his book Unequal Democracy published earlier this year,... [read full story]