Recession?

Obviously, the US economy is facing some very serious issues, the mortgage crisis being the most notable. If we are really in a serious recession, though, how is it possible that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama raised over $35 million each in campaign contributions in the month of February alone? Add to that whatever number of millions have been raised by John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Ron Paul, and it's pretty clear there is still a fair amount of disposable income floating around.

It seems to me all the talk of recession by political candidates and media outlets ultimately serves to exacerbate the problem and generate a self-fulfilling prophecy. It also strikes me as a bit suspect that such dire predictions have accompanied presidential campaigns throughout my lifetime, most notably in 1980, 1992, 2000, and now 2008--all election cycles in which the party out of power sensed an opportunity to turn the tables.