RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney campaigned in Virginia Friday- rallying voters in Fairfax and Abingdon, respectively.
Both candidates took the opportunity to use Wednesday night’s debate as ammunition against their opponent.
“I got the chance to ask the president some questions that I think people across the country have wanted to ask the president, such as why it was that when America was so badly needing jobs, he was pushing for Obamacare instead of working to get jobs for the American people, ” said Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.
“Governor Romney plans to let Wall Street run wild again but he’s gonna bring down the hammer on Sesame Street. It makes perfect sense,” said Obama.
The candidates also addressed the latest unemployment numbers. According to the Labor Department, the national unemployment rate is down 7.8 percent for September, the lowest since 2009.
Romney told Virginia supporters the number is misleading.
“The reason it’s come down this year is primarily due to the fact that more and more people have just stopped looking for work. And, if you just drop out of the workforce, if you just give up, and say ‘look I can’t go back to work, I’m just going to stay home,’ if just you drop out all-together, why you’re no longer part of the employment statistics”.
“We’re moving forward. Now, after losing about 800,000 jobs a month when I took office, our businesses have now added 5.2 million new jobs over the past two and a half years. This morning we found out that the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since I took office. More Americans entered the workforce. More people are getting jobs,” said Obama.
The latest unemployment rate is good news for President Obama. No president has ever been re-elected with unemployment above eight percent since the Great Depression.
