ON THE ISSUES: ECONOMY BLOOMINGTON - Farmer Les Schmidgall hopes the financial crisis doesn't make politicians overreact and add too many regulations in too many places.

He's among many people for whom the economy is playing a larger-than-life role in the presidential politics of fall 2008.

Shop owner Jenette Schroeder, who describes herself as not "big into politics," wouldn't dream of not voting Nov. 4. "If you don't vote, you don't have a right to complain," she said.

"I'm paying attention," added Lynn Nichelson of Bloomington, whose planned retirement from Illinois Wesleyan University is only months away.

Schmidgall, who farms 1,500 acres near Armington and tends about 130 head of cattle, said crop futures looked pretty good before the markets' steep drop. "We have historic opportunities for pricing grain," he said of the last 12-month period.

But for people close to retirement, the immediate future doesn't look as bright.

Nichelson, assistant dean of enrollment management and financial aid at Illinois Wesleyan University, plans to retire next summer. While the economy of late shook his confidence, he will retire as planned just shy of age 70.

"It is very scary to me," he said of hearing stories of people whose retirement plans were ruined.

He and wife, Sharon, director of administrative services for Special Olympics, have worked with a financial planner. Their retirement plan is diversified with inflation-linked bonds and cash in money markets.

"I think we can weather the crisis," he said. Still, it is "unnerving" as old, stable companies "fold their pup tents", he said.

As a small business owner, Schroeder wants the would-be presidents to consider taxes.

Her store, Chasin' Rainbows Gift and Home Accents, started as a home business more than 20 years ago. It's now located in Landmark Mall, along College Avenue in Normal.

She said it's unfair that some Internet-based companies can skip collecting sales tax, but people with "brick and mortar" businesses can't. When state and federal government have such high deficits, it would be reasonable to expect all businesses to collect and pay their share of taxes, she said.

To cope with the tight economy, she orders inventory more often, spends more on advertising and take advantage of seasonal deals, like buying Christmas goods in July.

Schmidgall, a former president of the Stanford-based Olympia School Board, manages the rising cost of farm goods in a similar fashion.

He buys items like nitrogen fertilizer early, so he can lock in a price that likely will be considerably higher in the spring. The trick to making such forward contracting work well is to "deal with a company that's secure," he said.

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Where they stand

Highlights of plans by presidential candidates Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.

Economy

• McCain: Workplace flexibility; relief for families; government reform; support small businesses; cheap and clean energy; better healthcare; simpler and fairer taxes; lower barriers to trade.

&$149; Obama: Jump start the economy; provide middle class tax relief; trade; invest in manufacturing sector and create 5 million green jobs; new jobs through national infrastructure investment; technology, innovation and creating jobs; support small business; labor; protect homeownership and crack down on mortgage fraud; address predatory credit card practices; work/family balance.

SOURCES: www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/, www.barackobama.com/issues/