September Jobs Report
The new jobs numbers are out: Unemployment fell to 7.8 percent but the economy only added 114,000 new jobs -- in line with analysts' low expectations. Certainly, the symbolism of being below 8 percent should take some of the edge off Obama's struggles at this week's debate, there's plenty of ammunition for Republicans who will jump on that 114,000 number and make the case that the recovery is moving too slowly and that people are giving up on finding work.
Romney's Big Etch a Sketch moment
Mitt Romney has moved to the center after months of running as hard a conservative campaign as we've seen. But who's the real Mitt Romney? President Obama was incredulous that what he heard Wednesday night was totally different from what his opponent has been saying on the campaign. So is this progress on Mitt's part? Is it enough to win back moderates and independents? Does he risk alienating the Tea Party right wing or are they so giddy at the prospect of defeating President Obama that they'll accept the old, moderate Mitt? So far, their distaste for President Obama seems to be winning out.
David Brooks writes about the return of Moderate Mitt, and argues that the candidate we saw in Wednesday's debate is actually the real Romney, who finally broke from the hard right orthodoxy he and his party have been spewing for the entire campaign.
Now that Mitt Romney is back on solid footing after Wednesday's debate, he's disavowing his 47 percent comments, telling Fox News that he's for everyone.
Paul Krugman writes that Mitt Romney's misleading statement that his health care plan covers pre-existing conditions a 'sick joke', and perhaps the most egregious of many deceptions Romney told during the debate.
The New York Times says Romney told about two dozen falsehoods during 38 minutes of debate, and they fact-check a particular egregious statement about President Obama's $90 billion green energy tax break. But Obama let it stand, so millions of Americans think it's true. And they set the record straight on Romney's claims he was a bipartisan governor.