"On Friday, the Commerce Department gave Americans the bad news. Economic growth is now 1%, the weakest start to a year since 2011 and the worst recovery since 1949. Big business and the stock market are generally doing well, but on your street that might not be the case. The Wall Street Journal reports that some corporations are not investing in the future, a signal that big business does not believe the American economy is robust. And who suffers? The worker because jobs are not being created. How is Hillary Clinton going to handle that? On Thursday night she said this: 'Our economy is so much stronger than when they took office ... but none of us can be satisfied with the status quo.' The problem is, Mrs. Clinton has not defined precise economic measures she would take to change the status quo other than a $275 billion federal investment in public works. But that's taxpayer dollars, the same scenario President Obama has been using. Trump, on the other hand, says he will renegotiate all kinds of trade deals and punish corporations that move jobs overseas. The Republican candidate also says he will cut corporate and personal taxes to stimulate consumer spending and investment. So you have to decide which economic posture you believe will be effective. On to immigration, where Trump is most militant. If elected, he will build a wall on the southern border and bring heavy scrutiny to illegal aliens living in the USA. Secretary Clinton has a much more nuanced approach, calling for 'comprehensive immigration reform.' The Democratic Party has no program to secure the southern border. If you read the Democratic Party platform, it basically says that any illegal alien who does not commit a crime here should be able to stay. The Bernie Sanders crew wants open borders and amnesty for everyone. Does Hillary Clinton want that? We don't know yet. Finally, terrorism is a very big issue. Barack Obama's policy toward Islamic jihadists is to defeat them gradually. The president does not want to commit ground troops, even under an international banner like NATO. Mr. Obama's policy is called 'acceptable losses.' That is, people will die and you don't overreact. ISIS gained power under the Obama administration and, while it has been recently set back, it is still the world's most dangerous organization. Trump says he will defeat ISIS quickly, but says he will not tell voters how because then ISIS would know. But there is no question that Donald Trump is far more aggressive, at least verbally, than President Obama has been. So what does Hillary Clinton do? On Thursday she said, 'We will strike their sanctuaries from the air and support local forces taking them out on the ground, we will surge our intelligence so that we detect and prevent attacks before they happen.' That is the same policy President Obama has. New polling says Mrs. Clinton did get a bump from her convention and she's slightly ahead of Donald Trump. But Americans will not lock in until after Labor Day and the debates will mean everything. Hillary Clinton has to decide how much President Obama's support means to her. Summing up, Trump offers bold change in his speeches. Secretary Clinton offers mainly conventional liberal thinking. She can depart from that to some extent without alienating her party. But if she repudiates any of President Obama's policies she knows she might alienate him."

The Factor asked Democrat Mary Anne Marsh and Republican Katie Pavlich whether Hillary Clinton will run on President Obama's record. "Of course she will," Pavlich asserted. "It is partly her job to protect President Obama's legacy and she's trying to walk this line by saying the economy is great while at the same time trying to convince people that she'll make it better. She uses the same language as Obama, saying we are going to 'invest' in infrastructure." Marsh contended that Clinton will reinvigorate American manufacturing. "The great recession is behind us and the challenge now is to have jobs that pay better. Hillary Clinton has the plans to bring back those kinds of jobs and understand the politics to make Washington work to do that. She will put $10-billion of investment into restoring manufacturing." The Factor took issue with Marsh's argument, saying, "The only specificity Secretary Clinton has put forth is the $275-billion public works program, and I'm not sure how putting that kind of tax money into public works will stimulate the economy."

The Factor welcomed pollster Frank Luntz, who wired up a cross-section of undecided voters as they watched the conventions. "The best part for Donald Trump," Luntz reported, "was when he talked about the aspirational aspects of American life and when he said he would 'go to work for you.' Instead of critiquing the failures, he was talking about what America can be. If he captures that kind of positive language, he absolutely could become the next president." Luntz then turned to Hillary Clinton's speech. "She was at her best," he said, "when she was talking about the economy and saying that things are not as good as she would like them to be." According to Luntz and his focus group, "her worst moments were her ad hominem attacks against Donald Trump." Luntz added that both Democrats and Republicans were extremely moved by Khizr and Ghazala Khan, who harshly denounced Donald Trump. "This was the number one moment from both conventions and part of the reason was that Mr. Khan pulled out that copy of the Constitution and held it up. The high point of both conventions was when he talked about his son's sacrifice. This is very personal and you do not want to fight with parents who lost their child. This was a big mistake by Donald Trump."

Columnist Joe Klein recently accused The Factor of "trying to gin up a race war by blaming Black Lives Matter for the police shooting." Klein entered the No Spin Zone to defend those incendiary words. "You can be as critical as you want of Black Lives Matter," he said, "but to say they have caused the shootings of police officers is a bridge too far. Even Charles Krauthammer warned you that you were going too far. There is a line that you can't cross." The Factor tried set the record straight: "I said their provocations lead to a climate that is hateful toward the police, I didn't say they caused murders. I reported accurately every time on Black Lives Matter and you made a mistake when you said I am trying to gin up a race war."

Jesse Watters spoke with a few New Yorkers about the just-completed conventions. Some of their opinions: "The Republicans were ridiculous and I loved the Democratic convention, which was perfect and polished" ... "The Republicans get at A+ because they spoke respectfully about the military and the cops" ... "Trump knows what America needs" ... "He has the vocabulary of a 12-year-old" ... "I turned the conventions off, I'll be honest with you." One young woman answered Watters' question with a pithy question of her own: "Which conventions?"

Barbara Spinelli, Tucson, AZ: "I listen to Charles Krauthammer speak about Donald Trump, and his disregard and disdain are very obvious."

Maureen Myers, Godfrey, IL: "Bill, I am grateful for your honest and fair commentary. I tune in to all the news programs, and The Factor is by far the best."

Mark your calendars: The movie version of 'Killing Reagan' will premiere on the National Geographic Channel on October 16th.