The War on Terrorism hasn't been won yet. It's still going on, and will continue for quite some time. That's exactly why security concerns are trumping any concerns or perceptions Americans have about Bush's handling of the economy. I hold that it doesn't matter one bit what happens with the economy in the next year and a half, or who rightly or wrongly gets blamed for it. It doesn't matter if the Dow is at 7000 or 11000. As long as crazy Islamofascists are still out there and bent on killing Americans, and Bush is still leading the effort to hunt them down and kill them, he will be reelected in a landslide next Fall. Whether Bush is doing a great job or not, it's simply a result of the psychology of a nation at war. If the war was truly over and all Americans felt completely safe, the nation's voters come turn on Bush just like Brits turned on Churchill after WWII. That as well is a psychological effect of a nation over war.