(AP Illustration/Jacky Myint)

Judd Legum, research director at the Center for American Progress and the editor of ThinkProgress.org. (AP Photo/HO/American Progress)

Edward Morrissey of the conservative blog Captain's Quarters. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Captain's Quarters)

Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief of the Libertarian journal magazine Reason and blogger at Hit and Run. (AP Photo/HO/Courtesy of Reason)

President Bush is pushing the war in Iraq aside and focusing on the economy leading up to Nov. 7. Will voters do the same?

asap has brought together the voices of three bloggers from across the political spectrum, giving them an opportunity to sound off, in an IM chat, on a major election issue each Thursday until Election Day.

This week's topic: the role of the economy in campaign 2006.

The participants:

-- Judd Legum, editor of ThinkProgress.org, a progressive blog run by the Center for American Progress in Washington.

-- Edward Morrissey, who runs the conservative Captain's Quarters blog.

-- Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief of the libertarian journal Reason and blogger on the publication's blog, Hit and Run.

Also take a look at asap's previous bloggers-on-the-issues IM chats:

Immigration

Ethics

Terrorism

Note from the editor: In some cases, comments that participants sent at the same time have been reordered to make more logical sense. Also note that capitalization and punctuation of the original chat have been preserved. And in order to preserve the participants' privacy, their screen names have been replaced with ... their actual names.

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asap: What is the chief economic issue heading into November?

Edward Morrissey: I would say the Bush tax cuts, and what to do with them...

Edward Morrissey: The Republicans want to make them permanent, and the Democrats either want to repeal them now or let them expire later.

Nick Gillespie: i think economic issues are bizarre at this point in time -- they're mostly symbolic.

Nick Gillespie: we have a record high percentage of americans who own their own houses -- one indicator of a very healthy economy -- yet everyone is worried about the housing market

Nick Gillespie: similarly, unemployment is at historic lows, yet we're all worried about the "jobless recovery."

Nick Gillespie: having said that, people always want tax cuts, but i think the gop's failure to rein in spending has hurt their credibility on the issue.

Judd Legum: I think the most important economic issue for people is their pocketbooks...

Judd Legum: This is a problem for Bush because while aggregate indicators like GDP are doing better, people aren't feeling it. Median income is the same now as it was in 2000.

Nick Gillespie: Fifty-seven percent of people questioned in a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll rated the economy as not good or poor even though 59 percent rated their own personal finances as excellent or good.

Nick Gillespie: http://tinyurl.com/ym75tx

Nick Gillespie: very strange times.

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asap: What Nick said leads up to the next question ... Do you think Americans are craving tax cuts?

Nick Gillespie: yes ... they always are. and they are always right to. taxing and spending are almost always unlinked. so you might as well pay as little in taxes as possible.

Nick Gillespie: having said that, especially at the state and local levels, people really want good services too.

Judd Legum: I think people want a return to fiscal responsibility, not more tax cuts.

Nick Gillespie: i think most people see tax cuts as part of fiscal responsibility.

Judd Legum: The last 6 years have shown that to be false.

Nick Gillespie: almost every private sector business is doing more with less. so should government.

Edward Morrissey: I think Americans crave a simpler tax system ...

Edward Morrissey: A system that doesn't require a team of lawyers to complete ...

Edward Morrissey: I don't think that Americans necessarily crave tax cuts as much as a tax system they can understand.

Judd Legum: I agree with Nick. But right now the government is doing less with more. Massive spending in Iraq but very little oversight into how the money is being spent.

Edward Morrissey: I agree with Judd on fiscal responsibility, but that doesn't mean more taxes, it means less spending.

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asap: How do you balance the notion of free trade with the plight of American workers and the state of the environment?

Edward Morrissey: I don't know that I see a "plight" when unemployment is 4.6% and private industry compensation grows faster than the rate of inflation ...

Edward Morrissey: Free markets find more efficient use of resources, which tends to degrade the environment less, although not perfectly, obviously. Post-communist Eastern Europe is a great example of that.

Nick Gillespie: for starters, the state of the american environment has never been better. in every city, air quality is markedly better than it was 30 years ago. same for water, etc. the only thing worse is traffic congestion in many places.

Nick Gillespie: i think it's also clear that overall free trade benefits all workers (who are also consumers). most studies show that firms that outsourced jobs ended up growing their american work forces. they compete better and grow.

Judd Legum: BTW Nick. The reason the environment is better than ever is because of landmark legislation like the Clean Air Act.

Nick Gillespie: that's part of it, true. but it's also technology and wealth. wealthier people buy cleaner environments.

Nick Gillespie: there's no question that most americans on some level are environmentalists in a way they weren't 30 years ago. they factor in the environment into how they think and make choices.

Judd Legum: Private industry compensation includes what CEOs are being paid. Real people are still struggling. Talk to manufacturing workers in Ohio.

Judd Legum: Is (Exxon chairman) Lee Raymond buying a cleaner environment?

Nick Gillespie: ohio's economy has been in the crapper for going on 30 years now. even before the latest wave of globalization.

asap: So do you three believe there isn't a national "plight" right now?

Edward Morrissey: We can always find anecdotal evidence of economic misery (on the front pages of the newspaper) ... In the macro sense, we are living in a very good economy, and I don't believe there is a "plight" in any general sense.

Nick Gillespie: i think economic anxieties are always present and are always heartfelt, even if they are not exactly supported by macroeconomic data.

Judd Legum: People don't live in macroeconomic data. The macroeconomic data is not bad because very wealthy people are making more money and corporate profits are up.

Nick Gillespie: we're also going through a long-term shift in the economy that takes time to get used to. toward a knowledge/service economy.

Nick Gillespie: on every level -- home ownership, college admits, etc., the average joe is doing better than 30 years ago.

Judd Legum: How are they doing compared to 6 years ago?

Nick Gillespie: that's a fair question, judd.

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asap: Speaking of the people ... the price of oil went way up this year, and then went way down. Should we stop worrying about dependence on foreign oil or are we still at risk?

Edward Morrissey: We are still at risk, and we should definitely be moving away from foreign oil ...

Edward Morrissey: We have an energy-dependent economy, and to leave the basis of our economy in foreign control is not a good long-term strategy

Nick Gillespie: Regarding oil, foreign or domestic, doesn't the past year's experience suggest that fluctuations are short-lived and easily handled?

Nick Gillespie: Consumption of oil didn't plummet

Nick Gillespie: suggesting that people could take the extra hit at the pump, at least as long as it lasted. Gas price spikes are a perennial story and one that never lasts.

Judd Legum: I don't think we should wait for another crisis to start addressing the problem. We need to get off of oil for a variety of reasons: security, economic, environmental.

Nick Gillespie: This is already happening. Technology not only allows us to squeeze more from existing fuels, it paves the way toward new sources.

Edward Morrissey: Judd, would you support a move to nuclear energy?

Judd Legum: I think nuclear energy could be part of it, I don't think it's the main solution.

Edward Morrissey: Market forces also force us to develop that technology, and these days, so do security concerns

Nick Gillespie: It's curious that Greens in Europe embrace nuclear power but dislike genetically modified organisms. In the U.S. it's more likely to go the other way.

Judd Legum: The problem is that we are distorting the market by providing billions of dollars for people to drill for more oil. The money should be shifted to alternative fuels.

Nick Gillespie: Hey we're distorting the market with all sorts of sops for ethanol and other alternative fuels too. If you're suggesting the gov't get out of gaming markets, sign me up.

Judd Legum: It could be that the market doesn't adopt alternative fuels until, for example, sea levels have gone up two feet. So we may need to help it along.

Nick Gillespie: So you're suggesting we accelerate global warming (joke)?

Edward Morrissey: Judd, I think the security concerns will help it along eventually.

Judd Legum: I hope you are right.

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asap: one last question .... Is it still "the economy, stupid"?

Judd Legum: Not this year. This year I think "It's Iraq, Stupid."

Nick Gillespie: I don't think it was ever the economy per se, even when the first Clinton campaign drilled home that message....

Edward Morrissey: I'm surprised that the Republicans have not emphasized the economic growth more in this election ...

Edward Morrissey: They pressed it in 2004 with more preliminary numbers and projections. This year they have the goods, and they're curiously quiet about it ...

Nick Gillespie: The economy wasn't bad when Clinton got elected. He managed to connect symbolically with (only 44 percent of) voters.

Nick Gillespie: He "felt their pain." I think that was more important to his success.

Nick Gillespie: One reason many Republicans are in trouble is that they are perceived as totally out of touch -- on Iraq, on scandals, on pocketbook issues. On spending ... the list goes on.

Edward Morrissey: Nick's right about the spending. The GOP wound up significantly growing government instead of shrinking it, which has dispirited the fiscal conservatives.

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For more asap election coverage, click here

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Otis Hart is an asap reporter based in New York.

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