To be elected president, Al Gore needs the economy and the markets firing on all cylinders. Al Gore needs voters and consumers happy and satisfied.

The Gore campaign has got to be worried.

He may prove to be totally innocent, but this is a negative -- a big distraction -- for his presidential ambitions and management of the Senate.

If the Fed continues to raise interest rates, it puts a damper on the spirits of voters and consumers and that is bad news for Al Gore.

In the big oil shocks that really damaged the economy, the tax on the consumer was many times more than that, but that alone wasn't enough. You also had to have people worrying that prices were going higher forever.

We've been trying to see whether the improvement of the economy and financial market will carry the day in terms of consumer confidence, or if worries about labor will dominate. It looks like the 'glass-half-full' view is winning.