Our collective obsession with Iraq has lifted just in time for some last minute stumping before the mid-term elections. Perhaps not surprisingly, most Americans appear to fear a faltering economy far more than a distant dictator. Surveys indicate that by overwhelming margins, voters want candidates to focus on an imploding economy, not on an exploding Iraq.

"Are you better off than you were four years ago?" - President Reagan's popular refrain - has returned to haunt us. Are we better off than we were at the dawn of 2001?

• The stock market has taken a nosedive, despite minor rallies. Economists fear a double-dip recession.
  
  
• The federal budget deficit has skyrocketed. In 2000, we enjoyed a surplus of nearly $87 billion. Just two years later, we face a deficit of $314 billion - the largest budget reversal in U.S. history.
  
  
• Unemployment, poverty and bankruptcy filings are up while incomes and job creation are falling.
  
  
• The number of Americans without health insurance is increasing. So are prescription drug prices.
  
  
• Climate change is speeding up while fuel economies are taking a tumble. Our air and water are dirtier.

Legislators desperate to switch debate to domestic issues ignored their constituents' clear mandate on the war vote. Congressional offices fielded calls, e-mails and letters running 200 to 1 against unilateral war on Iraq yet failed to heed the message. Now, say election watchers, they may face retribution at the polls.

What's at stake this November? Control of both the Senate and House hangs by the thinnest of threads. So does ideological control of the nation's court system. Voters will decide whether one party will dominate all three branches of government. This year, as in few others in American history, we will determine the fate of our economy, our environment, and our country's role in an increasingly uncertain world.