It's widely understood that the economy affects Presidential elections. What does this mean for the parties in an election season tarnished by a bitter debate over the debt ceiling.
In 2006 Senator Barack Obama voted against raising the federal debt ceiling saying we needed to get serious about fiscal discipline. At the time of his vote against increasing the debt limit George W. Bush was president. Obama and every Democrat in the U.S. Senate voted against raising the debt ceiling and every Republican voted to increase it.