[A. Pole]

The mitigating factors mitigate; they just don’t mitigate enough. Don't believe this? Let's count up how many people have voted against incumbents because they were unemployed, and compare this to how many have done so because they couldn't buy a pair of scissors for $.99.

"Free" trade bump!

[Clintonfatigued]

The Republican party needs to move away from free trade. If Bush loses, it will be caused by the damage done to most Americans by free trade. The average American does not benefit from free trade as it is currently practiced.

An example of the way trade should be done is this: A developing foreign country needs American lumber to build housing units. The United States agrees under one condition--the lumber is processed in American sawmills, packaged by American firms, shipped in American freighters. This is trade that benefits both parties. But free traders would ship raw logs on a foreign-owned ship, processed by foreign workers through outsourcing so that the only beneficiaries are corporate executives and foreigners.

When Bush ran for President in 2000, he promised "Prosperity With A Purpose." But if free traders and outsourcing C.E.O.'s have their way, most Americans will have neither.