Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

The jobless rate dropped to 7.8 percent, the lowest level since President Obama took office.

Where do the "jobs" numbers come from and what's this conspiracy about? Here is some background on how the whole process works. 

I loved this the first time The New York Times published it — a simple explanation about the super-secret process of reporting the nation's Employment Situation Summary, a.k.a. the "Jobs Report" and the "Unemployment Rate" from the bureau of labor and statistics. The cloak and dagger method in detail is below. 

Read it and you will have something to say when your friends start quoting Jack Welch and Rep. Allen West who are among a host of conservatives that are starting conspiracy theories that the 7.8 percent jobs number for September is some politically-timed conspiracy meant to help President Obama's re-election campaign.

Rep. Allen West tweeted:

In regards to today's Jobs report — I agree with former GE CEO Jack Welch, Chicago style politics is at work here... 

Well, who are the people tabulating the numbers? TPM asked.

Betsey Stevenson, a former chief economist at the Department of Labor under President Obama, said in a phone interview with TPM that the conspiracy theories were misguided in just about every way possible. For starters, the Bureau of Labor Statistics isn’t currently run by a political appointee. For most of Obama’s term, the commissioner was a holdover appointed by President Bush. The current acting commissioner John Gavin is a career BLS economist, not an Obama appointee.

And where do the actual numbers come from? I found this simplified version here.

•The unemployment rate is derived from telephone survey of households; respondents are asked about their employment situation and whether they are looking for a job. (Unemployed who are no longer looking aren't counted in this number)

•The jobs report is derived from a larger survey of businesses owners who report their hiring activity for the month.

•That's why the unemployment rate could decline, as it did in April, at the same time employers reported a net 3,100 job losses

Now for the fun stuff, If you want to know the secret process, continue reading.

From The New York Times:

Wednesday (the prior week), 12 p.m.

 Office suites in the Bureau of Labor Statistics go into lockdown. Custodial service is suspended.

Wednesday (the prior week), 12 p.m.

By the end of the week, the Census Bureau transfers household data to the B.L.S. Data experts spend the next few days turning lines of code into publication-quality tables.

Monday afternoon

An economist takes a first pass at the household data and drafts one half of the report.

Tuesday afternoon

A second economist analyzes business data and drafts the other half of the report.

Wednesday, 8:30 a.m.

The economists submit their drafts to a supervisor and a fact checker.

Thursday, 8:30 a.m.

The associate commissioner, division chiefs, branch chiefs and analysts sit around a table and “go through every single line,” says Abraham Mosisa, a bureau economist, “every single word, including commas.

Thursday, 11 a.m.

A committee of senior staff members does a final review.

Thursday afternoon

The report is sent to the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Friday, 8 a.m.

A group of financial journalists is taken into a locked room in the Department of Labor. The writers hand over their cellphones and are given 30 minutes to review an advance copy.

Friday 8:28 a.m.

Television journalists are given a two-minute window to get in front of the cameras and prepare for broadcast.

Friday 8:30 a.m.

Precisely at 8:30, according to an atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory, reporters broadcast the figures across the country at exactly the same time that the B.L.S. posts the report to its Web site.

Jim Urquhart/Reuters

President Obama and Mitt Romney during the first presidential debate Wednesday in Denver, Colorado.

Fact checking Romney will happen today and so will debate over the president's performance. Here are a few notable quotes on that.

Jonathan Capehart: The substance of what he said wont stand up to scrutiny. Folks are already pointing out that Romney disavowed his $5 trillion tax plan. Meanwhile President Obama is catching hell for his performance.

David Gergen: I think (the president) was so surprised that he thought (Romney) was just sort of flat-out lying — that he never proposed a 20 percent tax cut.

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire points out these two:

Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine says Mitt Romney's two biggest pivots to the center in last night's debate were not true by his own campaign's admission.

"Romney won the debate in no small part because he adopted a policy of simply lying about his policies. Probably the best way to understand Obama's listless performance is that he was prepared to debate the claims Romney has been making for the entire campaign, and Romney switched up and started making different and utterly bogus ones. Obama, perhaps, was not prepared for that, and he certainly didn't think quickly enough on his feet to adjust to it."

Think Progress: Pundits from both sides of the aisle have lauded Mitt Romney's strong debate performance, praising his preparedness and ability to challenge President Obama's policies and accomplishments. But, Romney only accomplished this goal by repeatedly misleading viewers. He spoke for 38 minutes of the 90 minute debate and told at least 27 myths.

You can see where this is going. More on The Last Word tonight for sure.

Someone was bound to come up with this. Got any ideas for other rules? Add them below.

If somehow you missed the hype, there was a big Internet tease yesterday by Drudge and The Daily Caller that there would be a big bombshell video released at 9 pm ET on a certain television program that would change the dynamics of the race using race. So one day later, what is the reaction? Here are some headlines:

• Washington Post, Post Partisan: Daily Caller Plays the Race Card Badly
• The Atlantic: President Obama and the Race Obsessed Right
• Huffington Post, David Linkins: Drudge, Daily Caller Hype Old Obama Speech, Trolling Entire Political World
• Huffington Post Politics: Conservatives' Hyped Up Obama Attack Falls Flat
• Gawker: The Art of the Code-Switch: Obama Morphs for His Audience Just Like You Do
• Daily Beast, Howard Kurtz: Conservative Outlets Push Old Video of Barack Obama Talking About the Poor
• Daily Beast, Andrew Sullivan: The Decline and Fall of Tucker Carlson
• Politico, Glenn Thrush et al: Video potential worry for Obama campaign
• Politico, Dylan Byers: Media gives little play to Obama 2007 tape
• Rush Limbaugh: Why Mr. Roads and Bridges Hates Suburbia
• New York Times, Michael Shear: Obama’s Wright Ties Highlighted Again

We have learned more about the investigation in to alleged voter fraud by a firm paid millions of dollars to register Republican voters in Florida. This is the firm that listed a Land Rover dealership as the address for one of the voters is claimed to have registered. 

NBC News has learned:

Florida state officials have directed a statewide criminal investigation into a Republican consulting firm whose employees have been linked to "hundreds" of suspect voter registration forms in eight countries throughout the state, NBC News has learned. Chris Cate, a spokesman for the Florida secretary of state's office, said that state election officials are turning reports of registration irregularities over to the Florida State Department of Law Enforcement for a statewide inquiry  to determine if there was a pattern of misconduct by the firm, Strategic Allied Consulting. He described it as a potential case of "election fraud" probe. Cate confirmed that the secretary of state's office, which oversees the division of elections, has received a complaint against Strategic Allied Consulting from the Florida Republican Party. Nathan Sproul, the managing partner of the firm, denied that his firm committed any fraud, saying he was the victim of "a few bad apples" who had been hired to register Mitt Romney supporters for $12 an hour.

In last night's show, Joy Reid gave us some background on Sproul's previous exploits.

Pew Research Center

American Households with Student Loan Debt on The Rise.

How Important are student loans in this campaign?

President Obama has made government loan programs for students a key part of his re-election campaign. The first lady frequently mentions the burden of student loans at her campaign appearances, saying her and the president just recently paid off their own loans. Mitt Romney has even been asked about paying for college at campaign events. (He once told a questioner to "shop around" for the cheapest college and another time said people should borrow money from their parents.)

Pew Research Center has once again put a very serious issue into perspective. Pew headlines their newest study this way: "A Record One-In-Five Households Now Owe Student Loan Debt, Burden Greatest on Young, Poor."

Pew Reports:

About one out of five (19%) of the nation’s households owed student debt in 2010, more than double the share two decades earlier¹ and a significant rise from the 15% that owed such debt in 2007, just prior to the onset of the Great Recession

The Pew Research analysis also finds that a record 40% of all households headed by someone younger than age 35 owe such debt, by far the highest share among any age group.

It also finds that, whether computed as a share of household income or assets, the relative burden of student loan debt is greatest for households in the bottom fifth of the income spectrum, even though members of such households are less likely than those in other groups to attend college in the first place.²

Since 2007 the incidence of student debt has increased in nearly every demographic and economic category, as has the size of that debt.

Since 2007 the incidence of student debt has increased in nearly every demographic and economic category, as has the size of that debt.

Will the student loans issue impact your vote in November?

On the day Congressman Todd Akin decided to stay in the race for Senate in Missouri, a progressive PAC joined in the fight to defeat him. AmericanBridge21st Century just released a web-video highlighting some of Akin's controversial statements, many on the floor of the House.

Republicans were sure of victory in this state over Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill until Akin made his controversial "legitimate rape" comments. With the exception of Newt Gingrich, GOP insiders have been trying to convince Akin to drop out and Tuesday was the final deadline for him to quit. He did not. 

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has said it will not contribute money to Akin's race but Republican South Carolina Senator Jim Demint is considering using his PAC to help Akin's campaign and is asking the NRSC to reconsider. There has not been a poll in this race since immediately after the "rape comments" but RealClearPolitics has moved the state from TossUp to Lean Democratic.

AmericanBridge describes itself as a "progressive research and communications organization committed to holding Republicans accountable for their words and actions." 

[UPDATE]: Politico reports that the NRSC is now on the fence about Akin.

From Politico:

Rob Jesmer, executive director of the committee, said in a Wednesday statement that his campaign committee would "continue to monitor this race" and that Akin is the "far more preferable candidate" now that a Tuesday drop-out deadline has passed.

"There is no question that for Missourians who believe we need to stop the reckless Washington spending, rein-in the role of government in people's lives, and finally focus on growing jobs that Todd Akin is a far more preferable candidate than liberal Senator Claire McCaskill," Jesmer said. "As with every Republican Senate candidate, we hope Todd Akin wins in November and we will continue to monitor this race closely in the days ahead."

Elizabeth Warren prepares for her debate with Sen. Scott Brown with her dog "Otis"

One Senate Debate down today, another to go. Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown will debate tonight at 7:00 pm ET in their race to be the Junior Senator from Massachusetts. The Senior Senator from Massachusetts, John Kerry, is playing the role of Mitt Romney in President Obama's debate preparations but Elizabeth Warren has help of a different kind.

Her campaign posted this picture of Warren preparing for the debate with her dog, Otis, by her side. The race is close, two polls out this week have opposite results, one has Warren up by five points, another has Brown up by four points. The Real Clear Politics average puts Warren barely ahead, up 2.5 percent.

On balance, Senator Scott Brown is also including his dogs, Koda and Snuggles in his campaign. His campaign website has an entire blog dedicated to the two pups.

Scott Brown's Dog Blog

And this bit of information makes me jealous, staffers at Brown HQ frequently bring their dogs to work. Sadly, I don't think that would be welcomed here at 30 Rock.

Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

Mitt Romney addressing the deaths of U.S. embassy officials in Benghazi, Libya on Wednesday during a speech in Jacksonville, Florida.

The international crisis at two U.S. embassies began at the beginning of last week and so did Mitt Romney's latest struggle with foreign policy. We know how many professional Republicans and Democrats responded to Romney's reaction but what about the American people? Were they paying attention and if so, what do they think about Romney's early statement attacking the president and the diplomatic corps, even as they were under attack and about how the president handled the situation?

Obama has had a lead in foreign policy in most polls. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press did more digging. They recently conducted a poll asking first if people were following the story and second what they thought of Mitt Romney's response to the situation and also President Obama's response to the situation. Here is some of what they found.

About four-in-ten Americans (43%) have followed news about the attacks on U.S. embassies in the Middle East and the killing of an American ambassador very closely, making it by far the most closely followed foreign news story of the year.

Those who have followed this story have much more positive opinions about Barack Obama’s handling of the situation than Mitt Romney’s comments on the crisis. Nearly half (45%) approve of Obama’s handling of the recent attacks on U.S. embassies and the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya; 36% disapprove of Obama’s handling of this situation.

In contrast, only about a quarter (26%) of those who have tracked news on turmoil in the Middle East approve of Romney’s comments on the situation; nearly half (48%) disapprove.

The Pew Poll also found:

Romney gets higher marks among those who have followed Middle East events very closely than among those who followed them less closely. Even among this group, however, more disapprove (49%) than approve (34%) of his comments on the situation.

There are only modest partisan differences in attentiveness to the recent attacks on the embassies and the killing of the U.S. ambassador: 48% of Republicans, 41% of Democrats and 45% of independents have followed this story very closely.

During the DNC, President Obama used Mitt Romney's previous foreign policy gaffes in the United Kingdom as a punchline. This week's events however, are anything but funny. 

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Mitt Romney addressing the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's 33rd annual national convention on Monday in Los Angeles, California.

Mitt Romney is responding today to Politico's news-making article, which alleges disarray inside the Romney campaign. The piece details the unusual approach to crafting Mitt Romney's speech at the Republican National Convention and how the decision to include Clint Eastwood was made.

In an interview that will air at 6:30 pm ET on Noticiero Telemundo, the flagship newscast of NBC's sister network, anchor Jose Diaz-Balart asks for Mitt Romney's response.

JOSE DIAZ-BALART: The political press here in the United States has been reporting on infighting in your campaign, messaging problems. Are you satisfied with how your campaign is going? 

MITT ROMNEY: I've got a terrific campaign. My senior campaign people work extraordinarily well together. I work well with them. Our campaign is doing well. And frankly — these process stories — take anyway from what's really of concern to the American people, which is an unemployment rate stuck above 8 percent, 23 million Americans out of work — millions of Americans now in poverty. I believe there's some two million more Hispanic Americans in poverty than when the president took office.  These are the concerns people of America have. And they're the reason that we're in this campaign.

JOSE DIAZ-BALART: So no changes in your campaign?

MITT ROMNEY: No, I — I've got a good team.

Noticiero Telemundo airs weeknights on local Telemundo television stations across the United States. 

I had a friend last night text me during our coverage who was upset that he heard people using the word "lie" about Paul Ryan's speech. He's not a political junkie, nor would he have any reason to not believe what Paul Ryan said. Then he saw dozens of headlines this morning. He later said, "well, maybe it was the right word." Here is a rundown of some of the headlines that have come from Ryan's speech.

Let's start with the painfully non-partisan Associated Press: Fact Check: Ryan ignores parts of his own record

Reporters Calvin Woodward and Jack Gillum summarize the speech this way: 

The Republican National Convention is drawing to a close with some factually slippery statements from its presidential ticket.

Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times was more forgiving:

If his vigorous support for shrinking the size and role of government has left the party exposed to withering attacks from Mr. Obama and the Democrats, it did not seem to cause concern. Rather, Mr. Ryan ran headlong into the fire he expects to draw.

Henry Payne of the Detroit News sides with Ryan: Ryan, Obama and the Promise of Janesville

Under Obamanomics, the government picks winners and losers. Obama promised Janesville would be a winner even as his economic policies guaranteed it would always be a loser. Indeed, Obama’s whole 2008 Janesville speech is a sobering road map for the job-killing policies he has put in place as president.

Alex Seitz-Wald of Salon.Com goes there: Paul Ryan, the definitive fact check

...here is a comprehensive guide of every single lie, misrepresentation or omission from the speech, in the order they were delivered:

GM plant —  Ryan: blamed Obama for the closing of GM plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wis. Truth: One of the biggest whoppers of the night; the plant closed before Obama was even sworn into office. His position also contradicts the Republicans’ position of opposing President Obama’s auto rescue.

Stimulus — Ryan: “The stimulus was a case of political patronage, corporate welfare, and cronyism at their worst. You, the working men and women of this country, were cut out of the deal.” Truth: The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said the stimulus created 3.3 million jobs. Four out of five economists agree. Ryan himself wrote letters requesting stimulus money, then lied about it.

Medicare — Ryan: “Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama.” Truth: As we’vepointed out many times, Obamacare doesn’t raid Medicare and Ryan’s plan would do a lot more to ruin Medicare. One of the biggest lies of the campaign.

Obamacare — Ryan: “You see, even with all the hidden taxes to pay for the health care takeover…” Truth: Politifact called the “government takeover” of healthcare meme their “lie of the year” in 2010.

Not Surprisingly, so does ThinkProgress.Org: The 6 Worst Lies in Paul Ryan's Speech

 His speech was riddled with false claims, so much so that even Fox Newswrote, “To anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to facts, Ryan’s speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech.”

And here is TheDailyCaller given to you without comment: 

In another crowd-pleasing line, the boyish Wisconsin congressman went on to suggest that Obama won’t be able to count on the young people who helped propel him to the presidency in 2008 this time around.

It's petty and it's not just us.

Before Paul Ryan's speech put fact checkers into mental back flips over his numerous, purposeful, factual inaccuracies (you know, what our Lawrence plainly calls lies) Paul Ryan did something else; he had a lot of people wondering if he would finally be wearing a suit that fit. It appears we were not alone in our curiosity about Ryan's physique and his suiting choices.

My counterweight and partner in snark, Senior Producer Nikki Egan (@negannyc) and I were waiting to see if this big event would be big enough for someone to actually put Paul Ryan in a well tailored suit. I know, I know you are likely thinking "but he's a Republican deer hunter from Wisconsin, a tailored suit doesn't fit the image of the down-to-earth "everyman" that the Romney campaign is so known for." 

Who needs tailored when you have Costco??

Just this week, Ann Romney made a point of telling a reporter that she buys Mitt's shirts at the warehouse store, tailoring bedamned. Plus, we have watched as Paul Ryan, a very fit guy, campaigns in Polo shirts that could have come from the Gordon Gekko era with sleeves down to his elbows. Still, we hoped for the best and hoped for a smaller lapel and a trimmer jacket . This was his big night.

His suit did seem to fit better than previous events but I could almost hear the words: "You're going to like the way you look" in my head as he walked out onto the stage. But perhaps he shouldn't take fashion advice from two producers wearing headsets, sitting in a crowded dark room with a thousand video monitors on the wall and our bosses, MSNBC executives, distracting us with, you know work.

Maybe Ryan could take advice from another young member of the House Republican Caucus? Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Il) has a few words for TMZ.COM about Rep. Ryan's wardrobe, and really, it's good advice. So, Aaron Schock do him a favor, I know this is crazy, but tell him maybe?