All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

This post was written by Guy Campanile, a producer for the CBS Evening News.

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The impact of the credit crunch on Wall Street, the real estate industry and corporate America is well documented. What's been given less attention is how severely small business has been affected in the past 12 months by the tightening of credit.

Florida small business has been hit especially hard in the wake of the real estate market collapse there. Regional and local banks burned by bad mortgages have become totally adverse to risk. Entrepreneurs eager to start their own business are finding it nearly impossible to secure loans of any size.

If you question the effect on the economy, take this statistic into consideration: small business represents 70 percent of the job growth in the United States. Without small business there are no new jobs. And if people aren't working, they aren't paying their mortgages – or buying homes. Many small businesses need loans to meet payroll or inventory. They too are being denied.

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In this election cycle, we are hearing a lot about race and gender. But the Florida primary is focused on something else: age.

Voters aged 60 or older for a huge bloc in the Sunshine State, and at least superficially, the oldest Repuplican seems at an advantage there. For more from my Notebook, just click on the monitor.