Very soon, many Americans will be receiving a wonderful advertisement for Barack Obama that cost the campaign not one nickel, the quarterly 401(k) statement. This may in fact completely seal the deal for Obama, as Americans vote with their pocketbooks first and foremost.
While the difference in the DOW over this period was only about 500 points to the downside, it saw the financials fall apart, which have historically made up huge components of many of the more famous and widely available mutual funds that have been wrecked of late. More importantly though, is that people will also know that the markets have deteriorated since the statement and they are likely down even more. Couple all this with the year todate number that should be on most reports and we will have likely sealed the deal with all but the staunchest right wing in the middle class (the DOW was down over 2000 points to the end of the 3rd quarter).
While I do not actually believe that the Republicans caused the current crisis (my belief is that it is a combination of poor management/goals at Fannie/Freddie, a real belief that housing couldn't fall in value nationally, and greed by both homeowners and Wall Street) that does not mean that Obama shouldn't capitalize on what is essentially good fortune for him and point to the market at any opportunity.