[Harris:] You know, a sign of recovery after all those devastating days of flooding in Iowa, residents are removing millions of sandbags stacked last month near the Iowa River. The bags were meant to protect areas from flooding. Last week, the river finally fell below the flood stage. And most of the sandbags will be used as landfill cover.
[Collins:] Meanwhile, want to let you know that Senator John McCain is coming up. He's going to be talking before the NAACP in about 15 minutes or so. We will carry those comments for you live. You see them getting ready there at the podium. And again, once the senator comes to that microphone, we will bring it to you live, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. So, the economy, of course, in the headlines every day, and it's issue #1 for most voters. But the presidential candidates are focusing more attention on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So what's the strategy? Jim Vandehei is executive editor of Politico.com. He's with us now this morning from Arlington, Virginia. So, I wonder, is it really a strategy or is this just kind of happening?
[Jim Vandehei, Exec. Editor, Politico.com:] Well, Heidi, you know, candidates are always sort of captive to circumstance. And right now you have Obama, who's about to go on this international tour, his first trip overseas as the presumed Democratic nominee.
[Collins:] Yes.
[Vandehei:] So he feels like he's got to be talking about these issues. And at the same time, you have an uptick in violence in Afghanistan, so they feel drawn to at least weigh in on, what are their plans for Afghanistan, at the same time while talking about Iraq. But there's something bigger at play here. You know, as a candidate, John McCain is trying to play to his strength, which is national security. You look at those polling numbers, people like him as commander in chief. So he's very comfortable. It's his comfort zone talking about national security. For Obama, he knows that he has to overcome perceptions of Democratic weakness on national security, so he feels compelled to talk more and more about national security to show people that he's as strong and smart on the international stage as McCain is.
[Collins:] Yes. In fact, let's go ahead and put some of those polls up on the screen, if we can.
[Vandehei:] Good.
[Collins:] Just in case people have not seen them. The first one talks about who may be more trustworthy, if you will, in handling the economy. I'm sure you've seen this. Obama's got 54 percent, McCain's got 35. Is Senator Barack Obama really more qualified? Is there anything in his resume that points to more experience on this issue?
[Vandehei:] I don't think so. I think that people in general, voters in general, feel much more comfortable with Democrats right now on the economy because Republicans have been in rule and they feel like the economy is in the tank. They're paying more for gas, they're paying more for...
[Collins:] Yes, but we have a Democratically-controlled Congress.
[Vandehei:] For the last two years. But you've had remember, Bush is now in his it will be eight years of service, and Republicans had control of Congress before that. So I still think there's a perception of voters that this is the result of Republican rule, whether it's real or not. A lot of the economy has very little to do with politics. It as to do with cycles and psychology and things that are outside the control of politics. But I think that's what you're picking up in the polling data, that people are tired of Republican policies and partly blame them. This is a huge, huge challenge for McCain, because I do not think this is McCain's strong suit. He's admitted as much. He's not a powerful thinker when it comes to economics, and I think that's what's really going to dominate this campaign. When people are paying high gas prices and worried about whether or not their bank is going to have enough money, they want to know what a politician is going to do to help them.
[Collins:] It's so fascinating to me, because we even had it in a story a little bit earlier today, saying exactly what you said about, regardless of who is control of Congress, the voters always blame the guy who's in the White House when it comes to the economy. And it is such an emotional-type issue, it seems, for people. So you wonder, you know, what really is going to happen when it comes time for people to go to the voting booths.
[Vandehei:] Right. And it's very difficult, you know, and this is like a time where I think voters should be concerned. Whenever you have the members of Congress and the president rushing towards solutions like you're talking about right now, and whether to bail out Freddie and Fannie and the big lenders, you have got to be a little bit nervous, because it's really hard to make these big macro decisions in a short time period about whether it's actually good for the country overall when you're taking on this huge burden for the federal government. And I think one of the reasons that you have both McCain and Obama being a little bit skeptical about getting too involved on the economic issues right now is, they have no clue what they're going to be delivered if they win the presidency.
[Collins:] Yes.
[Vandehei:] And they have no idea what even a month is going to look like right now. No one knows where oil prices are going to be, or where the stock market is going to go...
[Collins:] Right.
[Vandehei:] ... or whether unemployment shoots up even higher. So they have to be a little bit careful because they know their words are going to be used against them.
[Collins:] Well, it would be interesting then to look at this other poll that's out there. Again, I'm sure you've seen that. You already made reference to it. A good commander in chief, when we put the two together, you see Senator McCain getting 72 percent and Obama getting 48 percent. Is this something that could turn around for Senator Barack Obama, or is it something that could end up really making a difference come November?
[Vandehei:] That poll would be fabulous news for John McCain if this was 2004 or maybe even 2000. I think the economy is so much more powerful of a motivator right now for voters than it was in those last two elections, so I don't think that the strong commander in chief portfolio is as powerful of a political issue as it was before. Clearly, I think the hurdle that Obama is going to have to clear in the minds of a lot of Independent voters in particular is, does he really understand the world stage, and can he be a competent leader on foreign policy? I think that's why they spent so much time talking about this and putting the emphasis on Afghanistan, and putting him on this overseas trip to show that he can that he understands the world and he understands the complexities of it.
[Collins:] Yes.
[Vandehei:] That is going to be the bread and butter of the John McCain campaign. It's what he cares about most passionately, and he knows that's what voters like most about him.
[Collins:] Right.
[Vandehei:] The question is, does foreign policy, even when you have an active war, two active wars going on, does it resonate powerfully enough to actually give him an edge when the Republican brand is in the tanks?
[Collins:] Well, it's a very interesting and important question that you raise at the end there. We sure do appreciate your time. Jim Vandehei of Politico.com. Thanks so much, out of Virginia this morning.
[Vandehei:] Enjoyed it.
[Collins:] Thanks.
[Harris:] Oil dropping, inflation rising. Lots of business news. Take a look at this. The Dow up 107 points. So many numbers Wall Street feeding on today. We're going to check in with Stephanie Elam in just a couple of minutes right here in the NEWSROOM.