But while the topic has consumed a significant amount of energy on the campaign trail, neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Gore was given an advantage by voters who were asked which one could bring about lower prices.
This topic has consumed my research career ever since and it was the thrill of the unexplained that caught my attention all those years ago.
Like many topics that consume the public political debate, the size of Trump's hands and the slimness of his fingers is a controversy with two sides, but only one side can be correct: Are his hands the big, beautiful appendages he claims they are, or are they pathetic little stubs?
But last week, the hour disappeared in a single topic, one that has consumed American Jews lately: What to do? Buy Israeli products, one young professional suggested, pointing the others toward the imported hummus at the Jewel supermarket on the city's North Side.
Other areas where the startup's software dives deep include What topics and activities consume the most organizational time, and how well aligned resources are to the best customers vs. worst.
However, manufacturing costs and time consumed are major topics of discussion within the orthopedic community.
And talk radio in Boston, a Democratic town, was nonetheless consumed with the topic on the night of Mr. Bush's speech.
I wish we had more of that sort of conversation in the world at large: citizens consumed by the topic of how their country could do better on the Human Development Index, or exercised about how to reduce carbon emissions or HIV infections.
While the Senate is consumed by health care, other problem topics are piling up.
Fears of a more stringent warning, particularly from the F.D.A., have consumed the food industry since the topic arose in April.
