May 6, 2008 12:19PM

How Many Brains are Behind a Candidate’s Economic Policy?

By Alexis Glick

How many people does it take to screw in a light bulb? You’ve heard that one before. How many people does it take to formulate a presidential candidate’s economic policy? In this year’s presidential election campaign A LOT! The economy is the No.1 issue that voters are concerned about and the presidential candidates have to formulate what they believe is the clear path to a recovery in the U.S. economy. So we decided to take a look at the brains behind each of the candidates economic policies. Today we started with Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

We brought Rex Nutting from MarketWatch and James Lucier, a managing director from Capital Alpha Partners on to discuss the names and faces behind McCain’s economic policy. If you haven’t had a chance to follow them, you won’t believe the list. It’s long and involves some very well-known executives, former executives and legislators. From Sen. Phil Gramm, the man many believe is responsible for the deregulation of banks and the repeal of Glass-Steagall to former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina, to Sen. Jack Kemp and former director of the Congressional Budget Office and his right hand man, Douglas Holtz-Eakin.

It was a very interesting way to look at the candidate and read some insights into how he may vote or legislate if he were to assume the role as President given his Economic Advisors past decisions. One highlight was when James Lucier told me that the most important person to listen to in the McCain camp on energy is Former CIA Director James Wolsey. I thought that was fascinating. He spoke very highly of his plan to fix the energy problem in this country. I will be sure to pursue him for an interview. Take a look. I have not heard his name mentioned before.