All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

The U.S. unemployment rate fell unexpectedly to 10 percent according jobs numbers released this morning, though the economy still shed 11,000 jobs last month.

The figured were taken as a sign of hope for the economy and heralded by Christina Romer, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

"Today's employment report was the most hopeful sign yet that the stabilization of financial markets and the recovery in economic growth may be leading to improvements in the labor market," she said in a statement.

Roemer said that the loss of 11,000 jobs represented a "dramatic improvement from the decline of 597,000 in November 2008 and 741,000 in January 2009."

"It is by far the closest we have been to stable employment since the recession began almost two years ago," added Roemer.

As could be expected, Republicans had a different spin on the new numbers.

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Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

** Obama tries to keep politics out of his economic tour...

** White House gives different stories on Afghanistan withdrawal...

** The Senate finally starts voting on health care amendments...

ECONOMY: Per the White House: Today, "President Obama will kick off his White House to Main Street tour by traveling to Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley to speak directly with Allentown families about both their experiences in this economy and their ideas about job creation. ... As part of his visit to the region, President Obama will tour Allentown Metal Works, make local stops in Allentown to visit with local citizens to discuss job creation and deliver remarks to area students, educators, business owners, and members of the community at Lehigh Carbon Community College."

Allentown Morning Call's Brian Callaway, "Of all the stops President Barack Obama is expected to make as his nascent jobs tour arrives in the Lehigh Valley today, perhaps none will be more sobering than his scheduled visit to the Allentown Metal Works -- it employs some of the region's last remaining steelworkers.

"Manufacturing was once the backbone of the Valley's economy, as it was for the nation's economy. Bethlehem Steel alone had more than 31,000 workers at its flagship plant during its heyday.

"'The Steel' is gone now, of course, and the United Steelworkers of America has only about 1,000 members left in the Valley. A relative handful of those workers are employed by Allentown Metal Works -- fewer than before the recession, and far fewer than possible if manufacturing's fortunes rebound."

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Last Christmas season, as the economy fell into a tailspin, Washington filled the stockings of suffering companies — and not always checking whether they'd been naughty or nice.

President Bush offered up $17.4 billion in loans to troubled U.S. automakers, and Congress OK'd the administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of troubled financial institutions (with $1.6 billion of that going to bonuses and perks for bank executives.)

This year, CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer says, Washington is not Santa Claus.

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On CBSNews.com's "Washington Unplugged" Thursday, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) had this to say about President Obama's jobs summit: "I know this job summit is happening at the White House. There have been plenty of summits before. I am just hoping this is a little bit more than a photo-op."

He added that Democrats have focused too much on policies such as the stimulus, cap and trade and the card check bill, which Republicans argue are bad for the economy.

Following the broadcast, DNC National Press Secretary Hari Sevugan emailed a response to Cantor's comments.

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Republican Whip Eric Cantor, who introduced his own jobs initiative Wednesday, said he "hopes" the jobs summit hosted by the White House Thursday is more than simply a photo opportunity on "Washington Unplugged" Thursday.

With the backdrop of a 23-year high in the unemployment rate, Cantor told moderator Nancy Cordes, "I know this job summit is happening at the White House. There have been plenty of summits before. I am just hoping this is a little bit more than a photo-op."

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Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

** The White House faces limitations in what it can do for the job market...

** Congress questions Obama's Afghanistan plan...

** White House crashers may be forced to testify before Congress...

JOBS SUMMIT: Today, President Obama hosts the "Jobs and Economic Growth Forum" where he'll speak then hear from CEOs, small business owners and labor leaders, along with the heads of a number of nonprofit organizations.

"The forum will assemble economists, union heads and business leaders such as Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Mountain View, California-based Google Inc., and Fred Smith of Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx Corp.," writes Bloomberg News' Nicholas Johnston. "With the nation’s unemployment rate at a 23-year high of 10.2 percent, Obama will solicit feedback on job-creation proposals such as incentives to make homes more energy efficient, increased access to financing for small business and tax credits for companies…

"The companies that will be represented at the White House, including Dallas-based AT&T Inc., Chicago-based Boeing Co. and New York-based Pfizer Inc., provide a snapshot of the nation’s employment woes, having cut more than 36,000 jobs this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg."

"Obama convenes a summit here on jobs, then flies Friday to Allentown, Pa., for the first in what will be periodic listening tours on the economy," adds USA Today's Richard Wolf. "The goal is to develop new spending and tax proposals to help many of the nation's nearly 16 million unemployed people find work in 2010...

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After a week dominated by Afghanistan, President Barack Obama will try to turn attention to the economy tomorrow when he hosts a jobs forum at the White House. The president will be joined by business leaders and economists to brainstorm ideas to bring down the 10.2 percent unemployment rate.

On the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, House Democrats have a plethora of ideas – and the 2010 midterm elections looming. They are trying to cobble together a new jobs package to specifically tackle the unemployment problem. Lawmakers insist it will be a targeted package, but there are numerous, possibly competing, proposals among the Democratic Caucus.

Here are some of the ideas House Democrats are considering:

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Among the guests at President Obama's jobs summit on Thursday, formally called the "Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth," will be Eric Schmidt, the head of Google, and Disney chief Bob Iger, according to a partial list released by the White House.

Also on the list is Nobel Prize winning New York Times columnist and Princeton economist Paul Krugman, pictured at left.

The White House expects approximately 130 attendees for the forum. Here's the list of confirmed attendees, which includes representatives from major companies and non-profit groups, small business owners, elected officials, union heads and academics:

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Updated 1:13 p.m. ET

President Obama vowed to "finish the job" in Afghanistan today, less than 24 hours after his final meeting to determine a new strategy going forward in the war.

At a brief press conference following a meeting with India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, at the White House, Mr. Obama said that "after eight years, some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job."

"And I feel very confident that when the American people hear a clear rationale for what we're doing there, and how we intend to achieve our goals, that they will be supportive," he continued.

Washington Unplugged: Dissecting Obama's Promise

The president was responding to a question from CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, one of only two questions he took at the appearance.

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House Democrats would like to pass a jobs bill by Dec. 18, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters today.

With unemployment rates surpassing 10 percent, Democrats say they are getting input from economists on the most effective ways to get more people back in the workforce, CBS News Capitol Hill Producer Jill Jackson reports.

Democrats are considering a range of ideas, Hoyer said, including providing aid to states, giving tax credits to employers as an incentive to hire more people and extending unemployment benefits or the federal subsidy of COBRA health insurance benefits.

Hoyer also said highway spending is on the table. The White House is not interested in signing the full extension of the federal highway spending program this year, which could create thousands of jobs but be very costly.

While he "would not characterize [the jobs bill] as a second stimulus," Hoyer said "we will not have the kind of recovery we want" as long as jobless rates remain so high, Jackson reports. Hoyer added that the bill will be very targeted, but he could not say how large the package will be.