MARTINSVILLE, VA - Hooker Furniture CEO Paul Toms Jr. told the Wall St. Journal he and other business managers are awaiting the outcome of the election, and the tax debate.

"We're questioning everything we spend day to day in our core business, which is challenging right now," Toms told the paper.

Is Toms right? Take our poll and tell us which presidential candidate (there are five to choose from plus none of the above) can do the most for wood products manufacturing. 

Toms noted last month in an earnings call that Hooker's backlog was up about $5 million at the end of the second quarter compared to the same date last year, "and we expect to derive benefits during the third quarter from shipping bestsellers that we have re-stocked in inventory."

Hooker did spend on an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which became operational in September "for our casegoods segment after nearly two years of design, planning, conversion and training efforts by our associates and implementation partner," Toms said.