Let me finish tonight with this: it's what you do with what you've got.
Question: Would President Obama be better off if he'd won last week's debate, but then had the jobless rate spike up three-tenths of a point to 8.5? Or is he better off for having lost last week's first debate but seen the jobless rate drop down below 8 percent, down to 7.8 percent?
A political pro will say: go with what you got. You got a bad break on the debate but a great break on the jobless rate. Sell it! Get out there and hit the bricks, buddy. Let the other side talk up last Wednesday night. You get out there and sell what we all got Friday morning.
Reagan got elected with a sun-blazing "morning in america" with a 7.2 percent number. You ought to be able to get soundly re-elected with 7.8 percent. He won 525 electoral votes. All you need to do is get about a bit more than half that: 270.
So it may not be time for a "got it made" attitude like we had before the first debate, but it's a very good time for some sound, solid, professional confidence that by taking the right steps now, going full bore on what you have to sell, you will win this thing.