Stockton,California is a mess, at least when it comes to foreclosures.

With one foreclosure for every 31 homes in the third quarter of 2007, Stockton has the dubious distinction of having the highest foreclosure rate among the 100 largest metro areas in the entire United States.

Way to go Stockton!

For residents of this town and others, the real –maybe the only–question is who will be able to help them the most, Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama? Not that people in Stockton have ruled out a Republican, just that no Republican has yet to come up with a plan remotely like anything being proposed by either Clinton or Obama.

Clinton, of course, wants a 90 day moratorium of foreclosures along with a five year freeze on interest rates. Obama seeks a so-called foreclosure prevention found totalling some $10 billion.

A Reuters dispatch from Stockton carries the unhappy news that few in that city think they will get much help regardless of which candidate captures the presidential nomination.

The article quotes one resident saying : “They’re just going to say what we want to hear.”

Well, yeah. That is sort of what politicians do. All politicians. Even the one promising “change.”

It’s too bad that Super-Tuesday is upon us. This campaign is unfolding at lightening speed..at least during the primary/caucus phase. The process is not allowing any of the candidates time to formulate better plans to deal with the mortgage crisis and better plans to convince voters in places such as Stockton that who wins the White House really WILL matter for them and for all.