Jonathan Chait: “The biggest victim of today’s blowout jobs report — aside from the millions of Americans who still lack jobs, of course — is Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Romney has rested his entire case for election on the sluggish economy… Romney’s campaign seems to have been stunned into silence, taking an unusually long time to come up with any reaction at all. But I think going all-in on economic pessimism remains Romney’s strongest chance.”
“In any case, it’s all Romney has. Obama remains personally well-liked. Romney is personally unpopular. The Republican Party is extremely unpopular. Obama has had no major scandals, and his foreign policy has been highly successful to date… He simply has to keep plugging away at his theme, because his only real winning scenario involves winning on the back of a bad economy.”