Moment of truth looms for U.S. presidential race

THE PERFECT STORM FOR DEMOCRATS

Politically, the ongoing financial turmoil turned out to be a perfect storm for Democrats, who had a better economic performance record than Republicans in recent history.

US Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (L) and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain greet the spectators after their last presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead Oct. 15, 2008.(Xinhua Photo/Zhang Yan)

A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll shows more than three-quarters of Americans say the nation faces a serious economic crisis and most voters trust Obama to fix it. Obama leads McCain 50 percent to 41 percent among likely voters, which is more than double Obama's advantage from a month ago.

With the economy dominant among voter concerns, 56 percent of respondents say they are confident Obama has a plan to deal with the financial crisis. Less people are sure that McCain can do it.

That doesn't mean Obama's economic plan is undisputably superior than McCain's. It is rather a party legacy thing.

Based on a research of Princeton University, during past 50 years, the U.S. economy was better under Democratic presidents than it was under Republican presidents.

Under Democratic presidents, the middle and lower economic class got more benefits while the rich were the biggest beneficiary under Republican presidents.

Analysts said unless McCain presents a clearly superior economic plan, which looks not very likely, he has little chance to outperform the Democrat on the economic issue. Worse for him, the economy will remain the dominating issue of the campaign, given the nation's economic situation.