Both candidates also bought full-page newspaper advertisements during the week to sell the details of their economic plans. These developments reflect an escalating economic debate between Gore and Bush based on numbers and projections that is strangely reminiscent of the 1992 campaign of third party candidate Ross Perot, whose reliance on charts and graphs inexplicably amused an entire nation. But this is not fun and games for Bush and Gore. How voters assess their ability to manage the country's prosperity could turn the election. Pollsters say voters are more interested this year than in the past about the details of the economic plans being discussed in the campaign because they fear the current prosperity could be spoiled if government takes the wrong steps.
Times are good, and there is a lot of voter anxiety.
What these anxious voters seem to want most is a pledge from their new president that he will pay off the national debt. Yet while both Gore and Bush have promised to do so, it is not clear that the economic plan of either candidate would actually accomplish that goal. So far, however, Gore seems to be winning this particular argument. Polls show the vice president has succeeded in persuading many voters that the Republican's proposed massive tax cuts are too risky. Using current economic projections, Gore insists his own plan would produce a balanced budget every year for the next decade and eliminate the national debt by 2012.