It's a truism, but it's also true: The state of the economy is going to be much more important in determining who wins the election than any arguments over Bain Capital, taxes, or even Mitt Romney's Olympian gaffes.
And on that score, we got some more bad news Friday morning. The economy grew at a rate of just 1.5 percent between April and June, the government reported. The sluggish pace, down from 2.4% in the first quarter of the year, was due mostly to a falloff in consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity.
Already, the Romney campaign is jumping on the news. In an interview on CNBC, Glenn Hubbard, Romney's top economic adviser, called it "very disappointing for the future of the economy."
Late Update, 2:26pm: The chart above, created by Steve Benen of The Maddow Blog, gives you a longer term view of the economy's performance.