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below 8 percent in Obama's presidency. However, the last incumbent president to face a jobless rate as high as 7.8 percent in October of an election year was Gerald Ford in his losing campaign against Jimmy Carter in 1976.
• Whatever the number, it will give either Romney or Obama a data point with which to make a concluding case for or against the policies of the last four years. Still, the reports alone are unlikely to sway voters. Few if any remain undecided and they have shown throughout the year not to be susceptible to positive or negative monthly changes in the unemployment rate.
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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- The October employment report the government will release Friday will likely solidify the picture of the U.S. job market that's emerged this year: Companies are hiring steadily but cautiously. And unemployment remains high.
• Economists forecast that employers added 121,000 jobs in October, according to FactSet. That would be up slightly from September but below this year's average monthly gain of 146,000. And it's too weak a hiring pace to quickly reduce unemployment.
• Analysts think the unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in September.
• Friday's report is the last broad snapshot of the economy before Tuesday's presidential election. Any increase in the rate would mean that President Barack Obama would face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any incumbent since Franklin Roosevelt.
• In 1976, President Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter when unemployment was 7.8 percent.
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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Just days before the presidential election, U.S. officials are striking back at allegations they failed to respond quickly or efficiently against the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, detailing for the first time a broad CIA rescue effort.

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