The Daily Strike-3/5/10-February Jobs Report

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Neither House of Congress was in session today, so tonight's entry will be a short one.

JOBS: The unemployment rate remained at 9.7% last month, as the economy shed a fewer than expected 36,000 jobs. The unemployment rates seems to be at a plateau, which is very encouraging. Of course, an unemployment rate this high and any job loss is very bad news. Democrats have to constantly remind voters that they won't be satisfied until the economy starts consistently creating jobs.

The monthly unemployment numbers have turned into a political Super Bowl. Every month, Democrats tout improvements in employment, and Republicans push out statements about how the stimulus was a failure. I wonder if your average non-political citizens are really affected by all of this political grandstanding.

MASSA: Two days after announcing he was retiring at the end of his term, Democratic Rep. Eric Massa announced today that he is resigning his seat on Monday. Ironically, this is actually great news for Democrats. Massa voted against the health care legislation because he thought it didn't go far enough. I admire his principle I guess, but he was becoming a major thorn in the side of the Democratic leadership. Now that Massa is retiring, the Democrats only have to cobble 216 votes (instead of 217) to gain a majority. Maybe they can get some other Democratic no-votes to retire.

Massa is leaving Congress due to allegations that he sexually harassed a young male staffer. A special election for his seat will be held later this year. That brings the number of House vacancies to 4, all of them Democratic-held seats. Republican Nathan Deal was supposed to retire this week as well, but the Republican leadership convinced him to wait awhile so he can vote against health reform.

That's it for today, we'll see you Monday morning!