McCain and Obama: On the record

When they launched their bids for the presidency, the economy had not yet emerged as America's issue No. 1. So John McCain and Barack Obama have put together their plans for fixing it while on the campaign trail, in fits and starts, with dramatic differences emerging.

Fortune writers sat down with the candidates (Nina Easton with Obama and David Whitford with McCain) to see how their answers compared on a few essential questions. The questions that follow are paraphrases of the originals, and the answers are edited excerpts.

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