NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  The latest economic report, just released, will not provide any comfort for the Democrats.  From The New York Times:

The United States economy grew at an annual rate of 2 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday, as it struggles to gain any momentum for a sustained recovery.

That estimated number matched the consensus forecasts for the gross domestic product, and is the barest tick up from the second quarter...

...And an economy growing at a sluggish, 2 percent, most economists agree, cannot produce nearly the demand needed to bring down the nation’s painfully high 9.6 percent unemployment rate. The economy needs to produce 130,000 to 150,000 jobs a month just to keep pace with population growth, a number it has not hit in many months.

COMMENT:  It just ain't working.  And the psychological effect on the public may be worse than the numerical effect.  People are discouraged.  Even those with some disposable income don't want to spend it.  There is fear for the future.  And we have a president who is spending more time on the campaign trail and doing talk shows than doing his job.

But the pressure is also on Republicans.  If they win strongly on Tuesday night, they then must start to produce, something that for the GOP, in recent Congresses, has been a strange concept.  A fire must be lit, as we move immediately into the 2012 campaign.

October 29, 2010