The TicketColumbus Day weekend in politics: September jobs report, and more
Wednesday night's presidential debate and what it means to the race going forward will be joined by another hot topic at 8:30 a.m. EDT Friday. That's when the Labor Department releases the September unemployment rate.
Economists surveyed by FactSet forecast that the jobless rate edged up to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent last month, the Associated Press reports. Employers are expected to have added 111,000 jobs.
Whether up, down or unchanged, the jobs report will be spun by the Obama and Romney campaigns as a reason to vote for their candidate on Election Day.
President Barack Obama will be campaigning in Virginia and Ohio on Friday, and Mitt Romney will be in Virginia and Florida. Romney will continue politicking in the Sunshine State on Saturday and Sunday.
Obama has two fundraising concerts in California over the Columbus Day weekend. On Sunday, he'll be in Los Angeles for a concert with Katy Perry, Jon Bon Jovi and Stevie Wonder, and on Monday he'll be at a John Legend concert in San Francisco. Obama also will announce establishment of the César E. Chávez National Monument on Sunday in Keene, Calif.
Back on the East Coast on Monday, Romney will deliver a foreign policy speech in Lexington, Va.
And then there is this: Saturday marks one month until the presidential election.
Sources: Yahoo! News, Associated Press