U.S. Poverty Rate Drops

Check out this Associated Press article reporting the first significant drop in U.S. poverty rates since 2000. Do you suppose George Bush will get any credit for this? I doubt it; the poor guy cannot get a break, and the fault for that is probably his.

The reporter writing the article says some very politically incorrect things, check this out:

Poverty has not been a big issue in the campaign, and political scientists said they doubted the new numbers would change that.

"The poor are politically mute," said Larry Jacobs, a political scientist at the University of Minnesota. "What rational politician would listen to the poor? They don't vote, they don't write checks, why care?"

Democrat John Edwards has made fighting poverty a centerpiece of his campaign. But, Jacobs noted, "He's struggling to raise money and he's lagging in the polls."

I have wondered why Edwards keeps harping on this issue. He gets less traction with his "two Americas" theme than Al Gore does with his "global warming" screed.