Joe the Plumber vs. Joe the Investor

Joe the Plumber surely helped Team McCain focus its message on taxes and the economy. But what if there had been a Joe the Investor worried about the possibility of higher capital gains taxes, new 401(k) taxes and new business taxes? Remember, President Bush beat John Kerry by 12 percentage points, according to Zogby. John McCain has, maybe, a narrow lead over Barack Obama. Maybe. A recently appearance by McCain on CNBC saw precious little talk of how Obamanomics might negatively affect investors. McCain recently suggested a temporary halving of the cap gains rate from 15 percent to 7.5 percent. Why wasn’t something like that a centerpiece of his campaign from the start? Buried deep within McCain HQ there was a plan to eliminate the cap gains rate completely. But the trigger was never pulled.