Obama, Romney exchange barbs as jobs number improves

U.S. President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney intensified attacks against each other on Friday, as they reacted to a newly improved jobs number. Obama, who was campaigning in Virginia, said at a rally that " today's news is certainly not an excuse to try and 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." He was referring to the Labor Department's announcement that the unemployment rate dropped by 0.3 percentage point to 7.8 percent in September, the lowest level since January 2009 and below the psychological threshold of 8.0 percent. However, Romney and other Republicans continued their offensive, saying the jobs report was nowhere near good enough. "There were fewer jobs created this month than last month," Romney said at a rally in Abingdon, Virginia, referring to the revised August figure. "The unemployment rate has come down very, very slowly but it has come down nonetheless. And the reason it has come down this year is that more and more people have just stopped looking for work." Some conservatives questioned the jobs number, crying conspiracy. Jack Welch, former head of General Electric, tweeted " unbelievable jobs numbers... these Chicago guys will do anything.. can't debate so change numbers." Florida Republican Rep. Allen West wrote on Facebook that " somehow by manipulation of data we are all of a sudden below 8 percent unemployment, a month from the presidential election." The accusations were dismissed by the White House. Josh Earnest, the White House deputy spokesman, told reporters on Obama's campaign trail that the conspiracy theories were "utter nonsense." "Anybody -- any serious person who has any familiarity with how these numbers are tabulated understands that these are career employees at the Bureau of Labor Statistics that are responsible for compiling and analyzing these numbers, and they do that on their own," said Earnest. Jen Psaki, an Obama campaign spokeswoman, told reporters that " we also saw Mitt Romney say that this was the result of people removing themselves from the workforce. That's false. So it shouldn't come as a surprise given this week he's been playing pretty fast and loose with the facts." Related: U.S. unemployment rate drops to 44-month low WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (Xinhua)-- The U.S. unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since January 2009 in September, the Department of Labor reported on Friday. But analysts say the decline, which has the potential to change the dynamics of the heated presidential campaign, may not be good enough to improve the whole U.S. job market picture. Full story Poll shows U.S. congressional race still tight WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- New poll results released on Friday afternoon indicated that this year's U.S. congressional race remains tight, with registered voters almost evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. The USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted between Sept. 24 and 27, found 47 percent of registered voters prefer Democrats and 46 percent prefer Republicans. Full story U.S. presidential debate drew 67.2 mln viewers LOS ANGELES, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- A total of 67.2 million people watched the first presidential debate between U.S. President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney on Wednesday night, according to ratings company Nielsen on Thursday. The number is much higher than that during the spar between the then-Senator Obama and his Republican rival, Senator John McCain, in 2008. The audience tallied 52.4 million. Full story Obama, Romney cross fires on economy in 1st presidential debate DENVER, the United States, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney on Wednesday night fought head-to-head here over economy, the top issue on the campaign trail, among several domestic issues in their first face-to-face debate. The somewhat subdued incumbent and the generally more aggressive challenger began their first prime-time debate side-by-side at Denver University in Denver, Colorado.