Jobless rate now a leading political indicator

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — The dis­cour­ag­ing new unem­ploy­ment num­bers present Pres­i­dent Barack Obama with a sober­ing reminder that an uneven recov­ery from the reces­sion can be a frag­ile argu­ment for his re-election. It’s all deep­en­ing his anx­i­ety over the polit­i­cal and eco­nomic threat posed by the Euro­pean debt crisis.