The economy and fears of a recession

will remain the major news story

for the next few weeks

Hillary Clinton is best equipped

to handle the country's problems

This makes it more likely that she'll secure

the nomination in the Super Tuesday primaries

Clinton focuses on the economic fears

of middle- and working-class Democrats

In the last two weeks, Mrs. Clinton has devoted most of her public remarks to the economy, and she won the New Hampshire primary and the Nevada caucus largely because of support from households making less than $50,000 a year, according to polls conducted by Edison/Mitofsky.

Mrs. Clinton’s approach to the economy would have three main components. She would roll back the Bush tax cuts for households with incomes over $250,000 while creating more tax breaks below that threshold.

Impose closer scrutiny on financial markets, including the investments being made by foreign governments in the United States.

And raise spending on job-creating projects like the development of alternative energy.

“We’ve done it in previous generations,” she said, alluding to large-scale public projects like the interstate highway system and the space program. “But we’ve got to have a plan.”

Clinton can speak in both fine detail and sweeping historical terms about the economy — almost as would a policy adviser, which she essentially was for a long time.

Clinton Cares About the Less Well-off

When discussing the causes of the middle-class wage slowdown, she tends to focus not on market-based changes, like technology and trade, but on institutions, like unions and the government.

Her first priority, she said, would be changing the tax code. She has proposed tax credits for college tuition, retirement savings, health care and alternative energy use, most of which would go to lower- and middle-income families.

She would also raise the top marginal rate to 39.6 percent, its level for much of her husband’s administration. Increasing high-end tax rates would bring in $52 billion a year, her campaign says, and help pay for some of her other proposals.

“It’s shocking that there is such a continuing political pressure to lower tax rates on the wealthy, when so much of what we look back on now with nostalgia and pride.”

Clinton Turns on the Economy

Voters are showing they care more and more

about the economy as we get closer to Super Tuesday.

The three-day holiday weekend had a full campaign schedule: In Nevada, both parties held a caucus, and in South Carolina, the Republicans held a primary and the Democrats had a contentious debate.

Last weekend revealed a race that boils down to two head-to-head matchups: Hillary Clinton vs. Barack Obama and John McCain vs. Mitt Romney. The deciding factors going forward will be economic experience and party backing, both of which favor Clinton and Romney.

With the housing market and stock market stumbling, the election focus will shift to the economy, with voters deciding which candidate they trust to manage the economy.

On the Democratic side, Clinton has built her campaign on the idea that she is the most experienced and is best equipped to handle the country's problems. So far, this has worked. She has won the last two contests in New Hampshire and Nevada.

Those wins mark a disturbing trend for Obama's campaign. Core Democratic voters have started to line up behind Clinton; these include Hispanics, women, working-class voters making less that $50,000 a year and voters older than 60.

Obama can only blame himself for this shift. Like all of the Democratic candidates, he has run on a message of change, but he's distinguished himself in a manner that could backfire.

In stump speeches, he has vilified the battles of the 1960s, saying they divided our nation.

This would include issues such as civil rights, human rights, women's rights and expanding health care (like Medicare, a critical program for seniors).

All of these issues remain important to Democratic voters, many of whom argue that those struggles continue today.

Clinton has an edge infrequently discussed in the media. She has lined up the support of many in the Democratic Party who are superdelegates -- elected officeholders and party officials who aren't bound by caucus and primary outcomes.

The Democratic Party created superdelegates in 1982 in an effort to maintain some control over the nominating process, though the popular vote has decided every nomination so far.

Super-delegates number 796. According to CNN.com, Clinton leads in endorsements with 174, over Obama's 85 and Edwards' 34. This leaves about another 400 super-delegates up for grabs.

These figures do not include committed superdelegates from Michigan and Florida, because the states have been excluded in a disagreement over primary dates.

This leaves approximately 450 undeclared superdelegates, many of whom are unlikely to endorse a candidate this late in the race.

Speculation has it that the Michigan and Florida super-delegates will be reinstated at the Democratic convention in late August. This would be a boon to Clinton.