The magic 8% mark has been breached.  No longer can Republicans say that there has been four years of “over 8% unemployment.”  What’s more, the new job totals for both July and August were revised upwards substantially, and labor force participation went up, not down, for the first time in a long time.  The stock market reacted positively, and is now at four-and-a-half year highs.

This is very good news for Obama, after reeling from the weak debate performance.  Expect the Obama forces to run with this.  On the other hand, expect Republicans to work harder and raise more money because this number will raise their fears of an Obama victory.

Is this growth sufficient to turn the economy around?  Not at all — it does nothing about the ‘fiscal cliff’ or Europe or China or any other major threats to the world economy.

But it shows how quickly politics can turn around; expect a fresh smile on people in the Obama campaign, and a bit more juice from the President.

But remember, all politics is local.  This election will not pivot on the national unemployment totals, but on the votes in a few counties in central Florida, in Colorado, Nevada, and most of all, Ohio.  Still four weeks to go…