did. we live if an era shrinking map. voters have sorted themselves out as we talked about earlier. parties have sorted themselves out and now just a handful of truly competitive states are left when it comes time to choose a president. which makes those very few swing states that are left more important than ever to each party s white house hopes. and of the swing states left, as the numbers show, virginia stands as the swingiest of them. it may be the single most important battleground in the next presidential election. which makes the election that is playing out right now in virginia a potentially significant indicator of how swing voters are processing the political upheaval of the past year. everything that happened, everything president obama said and done, everything republicans have said and done since last year s election. the office of governor of virginia is open and if ted cruz is right about what the republican party needs to do to start winning again, then this is a race
governor romney in that state. kristen welker traveling with the president in cleveland. kristen, what else are we hearing from the whout concerning the jobs report? reporter: good afternoon, tamron. the white house, the obama campaign feeling good about this jobs report today. you heard the president talk about it during his first campaign event in virginia a little early on today touting the fact that this is the lowest jobs or unemployment rate since he took office. the president made that claim, and the crowds really went wild starts to cheer. he went on the report to turn the page after his lackluster debate performance on wednesday. he has also, tamron, been using really ramped up rhetoric to talk about his republican challenger, mitt romney. he accused mitt romney of not being the real mitt romney on wednesday night during that debate saying he appeared to be more moderate, walked back some
after speaking in virginia a short while ago. mr. obama touts the new unemployment report telling the crowd it shows that his policies are moving the country forward. the september jobless rate dropping to 7.8%, it s down from 8.1%. doug mckelway live at the white house with more. doug? reporter: hey, jon, these new unemployment numbers obviously coming as tremendously welcome news to an obama campaign that is still reeling from what most now agree was a lackluster debate performance last month. in fairfax, virginia, at george mason university, the president departed from his standard stump speech to tout these new numbers. here he is just moments ago. but today s news certainly is not an excuse to try to talk down the economy to score a few political points. it s a reminder that this country has come too far to turn back now. [cheers and applause]
work. that s why we need a change. we tried president obama s policies. nice guy, good family man, he worked hard. the policies didn t work so eats time for a change in virginia and for the country. one of the big changes over the past several years has been the rise of the tea party. many people thought after the 2010 success that the tea party sort of fizzled out. but i m curious what you are seeing in virginia. we will be talk to rick klein of virginia a little later about the texas senate race in which the tea party has been strong again. what impact do you think it s having in virginia this time around? i was the beneficiary in 2009 before there was an official tea party. i was with chris christie in new jersey. with that enthusiasm in 09, president obama won by 7 there and i won by 18 the next year. we saw the rise of the tea party maybe without a name but they were engaged. they wanted to help restore federalism. it was a push back against the dramatic overreach of the obam
work. that s why we need a change. we tried president obama s policies. nice guy, good family man, he worked hard. the policies didn t work so eats time for a change in virginia and for the country. one of the big changes over the past several years has been the rise of the tea party. many people thought after the 2010 success that the tea party sort of fizzled out. but i m curious what you are seeing in virginia. we will be talk to rick klein of virginia a little later about the texas senate race in which the tea party has been strong again. what impact do you think it s having in virginia this time around? i was the beneficiary in 2009 before there was an official tea party. i was with chris christie in new jersey. with that enthusiasm in 09, president obama won by 7 there and i won by 18 the next year. we saw the rise of the tea party maybe without a name but they were engaged. they wanted to help restore federalism. it was a push back against the dramatic overreach of the obam