Democrats bank on economic unease

DEMOCRATS John Kerry and John Edwards are gambling that there is enough lingering uneasiness about pocketbook issues that their message about a struggling economy and loss of jobs will resonate despite rising public optimism.

When it comes to voters’ anxiety about the economy, this election year is a far cry from 1980, when Ronald Reagan asked: “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”

Nor does 2004 measure up to 1992, when Bill Clinton’s team summed up the campaign’s theme with the memorable phrase: “It’s the economy, stupid.”