The Financial Times interviews Austan Goolsbee and Jason Furman, Barack Obama's top economics advisors, at the Democratic convention in Denver. They suggest that Obama's acceptance speech will get heavily into the "are you better off today than you were four years ago?" economics jag that many Democrats have been wishing for.

"We will call for change and we will say what that change is," Mr Furman said. "Measuring the success of the economy by what it does for ordinary families. Recognition that the way to promote growth is to invest in ordinary families . . . 'How is the economy doing for you?' is ultimately the most important question for us."

And, they say, Obama doesn't get enough credit for his tax cuts. (However, he would substantially raise other taxes.)

The Obama campaign, which will eliminate Mr Bush's tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 and raise the dividend and capital gains tax from 15 per cent to 20 per cent, allege that Mr McCain is focusing purely on tearing down Mr Obama's economic platform.

Barack Obama's campaign plans to push back aggressively against what it sees as John McCain's distortions of his economic policies and hammer home the message that every blue-collar household will get a $1,000 tax cut if he is elected.

"Both candidates are offering tax cuts," said Mr Goolsbee. "It is a question of who gets the tax cuts. The Obama plan gets tax relief to 95 per cent of working Americans."