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Employment Situation Summary — Transmission of material in this release is embargoed USDL-11-1691 until 8:30 a.m. (EST) Friday, December 2, 2011 — Technical information: — Household data: (202) 691-6378 * cpsinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cps
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Calculated Risk, msnbc.com, White House.gov Blog, Economist's View, Washington Wire, Econbrowser, Sky Dancing, RedState, Speaker, Felix Salmon, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, BizzyBlog, Free exchange, The Heritage Foundation, Kaiser Health News, Fortune, Brookings Institute, Washington Post, American Prospect, The New Republic, Mediaite, Hot Air, Swampland, Daily Kos, Wake up America, The Gateway Pundit, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, ThinkProgress, Moe Lane, GOP.com, Univision News Tumblr and The Big Picture
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U.S. Jobless Rate Unexpectedly Declines to 8.6% — Payroll gains in the U.S. picked up last month and the jobless rate unexpectedly fell to the lowest level since March 2009, a decline augmented by the departure of Americans from the labor force. — Payrolls climbed 120,000 …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Weasel Zippers, Maggie's Farm, The Lonely Conservative, Gothamist, Don Surber and Vox Popoli


Signs of Hope in Jobs Report; Unemployment Drops to 8.6% — The American unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to its lowest level in two and a half years in November, despite the many global crises batting against the economy. — The unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent …



Why Did the Unemployment Rate Drop?
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, MarketBeat, Wonkette and Political Mojo

The Household Survey: A Note on the December 2, 2011 Report
Discussion:
Modeled Behavior and Angry Bear

Jobs picture improves, unemployment drops
Discussion:
The Politico, The Maddow Blog and We Party Patriots

Economy Creates 120,000 Jobs, Rate Tumbles to 8.6%
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Vodkapundit, US Politics, Shakesville and Taylor Marsh

Mitt vs. Newt — It's Iowa minus 32 days, and barring yet another resurrection (or event of similar improbability), it's Mitt Romney vs. Newt Gingrich. In a match race, here's the scorecard: — Romney has managed to weather the debates unscathed. However, the brittleness he showed …
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Romney's the One — Even though nobody has yet cast a vote in the primaries, Republicans are increasingly resigned to Gov. Mitt Romney's winning the party's presidential nomination. Every week he gets a few more endorsements from Republican officeholders.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Metro, The PJ Tatler and Erick's blog


Fundamentally: Newt Gingrich's Favorite Word — By now, we've all become familiar with Newt Gingrich's habit of using a few choice adverbs to make the things he says sound just a bit more intelligent to his listeners. … But none of them are as vital to the Gingrich lexicon as fundamentally …

Gingrich presidential run inspires fear and loathing in top GOP circles
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The Impolitic and A plain blog about politics

Santorum on Gingrich: ‘Humility is an important thing’
Discussion:
The Politico, The Hill, GOP 12 and Ballot Box

Nixon's the one! — I take myself to be the average Republican primary voter.
Discussion:
Business Insider, The Daily Dish and National Review


Absolution for Newt — How evangelicals are finding a way to support Gingrich.
Discussion:
Iowa Caucuses, The Politico and The Iowa Republican

Trump to Moderate Republican Debate — It's officially a reality television Republican primary now. — Donald Trump is pairing up with Newsmax, the conservative magazine and news Web site, to moderate a presidential debate in Des Moines on Dec. 27. — “Our readers and the grass roots …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Wonkette, GOP 12, Hot Air, Little Green Footballs, No More Mister Nice Blog, PolitickerNY, The Political Carnival, Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway, Booman Tribune, msnbc.com, Mediaite, National Review, Business Insider, The Raw Story and Iowa Caucuses


Herman Cain's Marriage Shaken by Infidelity Charges — As the one-time GOP frontrunner meets up with his wife to discuss his political future, friends say fresh charges of infidelity reopened old wounds in his marriage. — In October, Herman Cain was having the time of his life, according to those who know him well.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Business Insider, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, Guardian, The Raw Story, The Political Carnival and National Review
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Other Websites That Ran That ‘Women for Cain’ Stock Photo — This morning, Herman Cain's campaign launched a new website called ‘Women for Cain,’ on which women can submit stories of their support for the embattled Republican presidential candidate. This is the leader image for the site.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Little Green Footballs, Rumproast and The Maddow Blog

Conservatives craft bill to prevent IMF bailout of crumbling eurozone — Conservatives say they will try to block the International Monetary Fund from bailing out Italy and Spain, which they say could leave U.S. taxpayers with a huge bill. — Republicans on both sides of the Capitol complain …
Discussion:
MarketBeat, Weasel Zippers and Business Insider
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Killing the Euro — Can the euro be saved? Not long ago …
Discussion:
US Politics

The Draghi Deal — If I understand the news coming …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and EconLog

Nelson up double digits — Several Florida Senate polls conducted shortly after Connie Mack IV's entry into the race found a toss up contest, but PPP's newest look finds that any announcement bump Mack may have received has now receded. Bill Nelson leads him by a 46-35 margin.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …

Teen stopped at airport for design on purse — 17-year-old missed flight to Jacksonville after agents inspected gun replica — A teenage girl's sense of style got her in trouble at the airport. — Vanessa Gibbs, 17, claims the Transportation Security Administration stopped …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Hot Air, The Daily Caller and LewRockwell.com Blog


Saudis fear there will be ‘no more virgins’ and people will turn gay if female drive ban is lifted — Repealing a ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia would result in ‘no more virgins’, the country's religious council has warned. — A ‘scientific’ report claims relaxing the ban …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Weasel Zippers, americanthinker.com, The Jawa Report, Jihad Watch, Sister Toldjah and Doug Ross
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Iowa Poll: Herman Cain support in Iowa takes nose dive — Herman Cain (David Purdy/Des Moines Register file photo) — Herman Cain's once-surging popularity in Iowa has plummeted in the wake of an allegation of a 13-year extramarital affair, leaving him at single-digit support with the Iowa caucuses just over a month away.
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Los Angeles Times, Fox News, TBogg, The Politico, Outside the Beltway, PolitickerNY, The Hill, The Caucus, Business Insider, GOP 12 and Yahoo! News

Payroll tax break: Extension proposals from both parties fail in Senate — The Senate late Thursday rejected competing partisan visions for extending a temporary tax break that benefits virtually every American worker, clearing the way for more serious negotiations over how to cover the cost of the tax cut.
Discussion:
Jared Bernstein, PERRspectives, US Politics, New York Times, Don Surber, Hot Air, ThinkProgress and Indecision Forever
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Boehner hopes to avoid GOP Senate fate on payroll taxes
Discussion:
The Politico

First-grader accused of sexual harassment — A Boston elementary school is investigating a 7-year-old first-grader for sexual harassment after he struck another boy his age in the groin. But the mother of the accused said her son was fending off the other child, who had choked him in an altercation on a school bus on Nov. 22.
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, iOwnTheWorld.com, CBS Boston, MyFox Boston and Hullabaloo


The Meathead Vote — For liberal baby boomers, it's always 1972. — In hilarious fashion, National Journal's Reid Wilson picks up on this week's predominant theme, Democrats and demographics. He paints a sunny picture of President Obama's re-election prospects based on Ruy Teixeira …
Discussion:
Don Surber and americanthinker.com


Under assault for liberal bias, Politico's traffic dives — Internet traffic and Web search measurement tools from several sources indicate that despite massive promotion efforts on MSNBC and in other venues, Politico.com is rapidly losing readers, especially outside of Washington, D.C.
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FishbowlDC, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Jammie Wearing Fools, more at Mediagazer »