Gallup opinion poll data from September shows clearly the impact of the financial crisis on the wavering fortunes of presidential candidates McCain and Obama.
Have a look at the chart below. Obama first drew level with McCain on 15 Sepember, the day the news broke about the bankruptcy filing by Lehman Brothers. As the crisis rumbled on, McCain failed to regain parity, with Obama picking up steam from late September
following the rescue of Wachovia.
As any Clinton campaign worker will tell you: "It's the economy, stupid."
PS For those of you not au fait with UK electoral history, the headline is a parody of one used by tabloid newspaper The Sun after it urged readers to vote against a Neill Kinnock premiership in 1992.