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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- History repeats itself, until it doesn't. That musty truism is worth remembering as pundits speculate on whether the lumbering economy will doom the re-election hopes of President Barack Obama, who has shown a knack for beating odds and breaking barriers.
• Clearly, some important trends are working against him. The latest evidence is Friday's lackluster jobs report, which found the nation's unemployment rate stuck at 8.2 percent.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt was the last president to win re-election with so much joblessness. Voters ousted Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush when the jobless rate was well under 8 percent.
• And it's not as if Obama can divert the nation's attention from the economy, which has dominated the election from the start. His signature domestic achievement, the 2010 health care overhaul, is a mixed political blessing, uniting Republicans against him. Voters show little interest in how his administration wound down the Iraq war and killed Osama bin Laden.
• And yet Obama runs even with, or slightly ahead of, Republican rival Mitt Romney in poll after poll. Campaign strategists debate the reasons.
• ___

• PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The heat wave gripping much of the country will continue its hold, with temperatures of 100 degrees or higher spreading to northeastern cities including Philadelphia and New York.
• The Midwest, however, will continue to scorch on Saturday, with excessive heat warnings remaining in several states, including Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. In Fort Wayne, Ind., temperatures could reach 106 degrees, but feel more like 114.
• Temperatures in Philadelphia and New York have reached the high 90s recently, but haven't crossed 100. Forecasters predict a temperature of 102 degrees in Philadelphia on Saturday and around 100 in New York.
• The New York City Health Department is urging residents to take precautions

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